Diamonds and Guns
by T. Costa
Summary: Six years after the crisis with Meteor, Wutai is taken over and Godo killed. Yuffie sinks into a world of drugs. Who can save her? Yuffentine. Rated for swearing, drug use, language, and sex. Complete.
1. No One Lives Forever

**Diamonds and Guns**

_**Chapter One - No One Lives Forever**_

_I shot in heaven, now I cry  
No one lives forever, in fact, we all die  
From those who bust shots, to those who stuff cops  
To those who serve rocks on all the hard blocks  
Every last soul must pay the last toll  
In the dice game of life, who gets the last roll?  
Is it the one with the suit? The one with the sack?  
The one who hides behind his fucking gun and his badge?  
Negative outlook? Well that's how I'm livin'  
And like he said, it's a wicked world we live in_

_It's a wicked world we live in_

-- The Transplants, "_Diamonds and Guns_"

Midgar was a decaying city. During the day, all one who looked down upon it's post-Omega state would see was the remains of a dead city. No human willingly lived in the mako-infested hunk of metal; the only creatures left were monsters, cockroaches and rats.

At night, however, Midgar came alive.

It was party central. Everyone who was anyone in the dirty underworld of sex, lies, drugs and music showed up. You had your rock stars, you had your former Shinra execs, and you had your average party animal.

Strobe lights flashed in the darkness and techno filled the air. Scantily-clad women danced against men with money, and sometimes other scantily-clad women. When the partying started, the world's miniskirt manufacturers had rejoiced.

So many familiar faces. Scarlet. Shera and Cid. Tseng and Elena. Rufus.

Reno and Rude.

Reno and Rude were the reason she was here. Thank God Shera and Cid didn't recognize her; even at 21 Cid still felt the need to treat her like she didn't know what was best for her.

But of course they wouldn't recognize her. She didn't look anything like the Yuffie Kisaragi they knew.

It had been two years since anyone in AVALANCHE had seen her. She wore a short white tank top and an even shorter black leather miniskirt, with high heeled sandals. The straps from her sandals went all the way up to her knees and tied in harsh leather knots. Her makeup was done in a way where it was obvious she was wearing it; totally unlike her almost natural look from years past. Her breasts had filled out with physical maturity, and her hair swung past her ass. An ass which had also filled out in maturity. She looked nothing like the old Yuffie.

And why should she? No longer a Wutain princess, she could do anything she chose without having to remember that she represented her people.

In fact, only two people in the whole room knew who she was, and she was currently sitting between them.

Reno and Rude. Who knew the two ex-Turks would be so much fun to hang around with? They'd been partying hard for well over three weeks, and there was no sign of stopping.

When the Nomura family had seized control of Wutai and killed Godo, it was like a signal to Yuffie. Get lost. Lose yourself. Have all of the fun you ever wanted to have.

And now that she was 21, she could do so. The first person she ran into upon entering Edge was Reno and it was all downhill from there.

From party to party, bottle to bottle, drug to drug. Yuffie was having a blast. Makeup cleverly concealed the dark circles under her eyes from having not slept in a week. She looked hot.

She hadn't been tweaking long enough to have earned the gaunt look most meth users acquire; she still had full breasts and a little bit of baby fat that looked good on her figure. After having discovered sex with Reno three weeks ago, she'd let go of her inhibitions. She was an unusual mark in the party crowd; someone who still had tits to grab at. She was popular, and she used her feminine wiles to get whatever she wanted.

No, no one would recognize Yuffie Kisaragi. Well, maybe one, but he was unfortunately far away.

**- - - - -**

Vincent Valentine awoke from another nightmare and sat up, breathing heavily.

The musty darkness of the bedroom at Shinra Manor surrounded him, suffocating him and stilling his heavy breath. He could hear creaking downstairs; a monster, more than likely.

Despite Chaos' absence from his body, he still had nightmares. And they came frequently, tormenting him to where he wondered if he'd ever get a decent nights' sleep again. He had no idea if there was a meaning to them or whether his subconscious was simply punishing him for something.

Vincent slept in Shinra Manor because it was familiar, and because it was the only place he could call his own. Rufus cared not for the place so Vincent had run of it. But he knew, instinctively, that the longer he stayed there, the more constant the dreams would be. So he came home and left often.

So it seemed that it was time to leave again. He never knew where he'd go when he left, just that he left. There were only two places he had not been to in the past two years.

Lucrecia's cave, and Wutai.

Wutai was dangerous for any member of AVALANCHE. Ever since the Nomura family had taken over, any former ally of the Kisaragi family (despite the fact that they were all dead) would be slaughtered on the spot.

No one had heard from Yuffie since the takeover, and AVALANCHE had to assume that she, too, had perished that day. Her body had never been recovered, but then again, all members of the Kisaragi family had been buried in mass graves outside the town limits; unmarked, unnamed.

The swords had been thirsty. Wutai's death toll was estimated to be in the hundreds. The small quiet town would never be the same again.

Vincent quietly mourned the loss of Wutai. The ancient, dignified culture had come to a warlike halt that morning.

Even more silently, Vincent mourned Yuffie. She had become a friend during the Deepground incident, an ally who could be relied on. That she had perished so young seemed immeasurably unfair to the former Turk.

She never got to experience the finer things in life. Being able to drink a fine wine; the breeze from around the Nibel mountains first thing in the morning; and most importantly, love.

Drawing himself out of those cold memories, Vincent sat up and groped in the dark for the lamp. Flicking it on, he reached for the black knapsack at the foot of the bed and began packing.

It was definitely time to leave.

Tent, elixirs, potions, toiletries, polish for his guns and claw, ammunition. He always pondered bringing a spare set of clothes but never did.

Just to be perverse, he tossed a black button-up shirt and a black pair of slacks into the knapsack. Leviathan knew he'd never use them, but at least he was shaking up his routine a bit.

When he was done, he glanced around the room while strapping Death Penalty and a revolver to his side. One never knew.

Turning off the light, he left the bedroom and exited the mansion quickly, before the monsters within had a chance to notice that he was up and about.

When Vincent left the manor normally, he simply struck out in whichever direction pleased him most. He'd found many fascinating things that way, and it suited him. However, he couldn't pick a direction when he got to the limits of the town, and instead stood there holding his knapsack.

Finally, he made a decision on where to go, something he'd never done before. Edge. He'd go to Edge. He hadn't seen Tifa in over a year, and it seemed about time.

**- - - - -**

Boats would always remind him of Yufffie. He clearly recalled that every time they'd travelled on one, she got seasick. She tried to make light of it but he'd known, just as everyone else had, that it bothered her. Her motion sickness made her feel weak.

This world was a sadder place without her in it.

On a brighter note, many good people hadn't perished. Cloud and Tifa were, to the best of his knowledge, still alive, and getting ready to start a family. For all he knew, they may already have done so - it had been, after all, over a year since he'd seen them.

Red XIII was also doing well, as far as Vincent knew. He'd last seen him a few months back, as Cosmo Canyon was not far from Nibelheim. The strange creature spent his days reading and learning, a pursuit that made him very happy.

Cid and Shera had surprised everyone by getting a jump start on the family thing, and having twin girls. Cid fainted in the delivery room, much to Shera's chagrin.

Reeve, Tifa, Cloud, Barret and Shelke were all mysteries to him. He hadn't seen any of them in at least a year; many for well over. He didn't purposely avoid them; his travels just had not taken him anywhere near them in so long.

His human hand reached into his pocket, fingering his PHS. It wasn't like anyone had made any effort to contact him, either. Everyone had his number.

He felt a gil piece rubbing around in his pocket and retrieved it. Vincent clearly remembered his mother, so long ago, telling him that if he put his quarter into the fountain, his wish would come true.

He wondered if a whole gil piece into the ocean would be more effective.

He flipped the coin through his fingers a few times before slowly flicking it into the ocean. He watched it sink and made his wish. A wish for some news of Yuffie; even if it was a body.

**- - - - -**

Reno and Rude walked down the abandoned streets of Midgar; now that the sun was starting to rise, the city had become deserted. Yuffie was passed out between the two of them; her arms slung over their shoulders as they stumbled toward the apartment they shared in Edge. Rude, always the more polite of the two, adjusted Yuffie's miniskirt so that her good were not displayed to the world at large.

"You sure know how to ruin a guy's fun." Reno said sourly. Rude knew to ignore it; he was just coming down.

Not for the first time, Rude wondered why he stayed with Reno and Yuffie. He had almost nothing in common with them. He did not indulge in the drugs that they so enjoyed, and he didn't even drink that often.

And as often as he'd wondered that, he also had come to the same conclusion: Reno needed him. He was like the little brother he'd never had. Reno could never balance a check book or pay bills on time, and there might just be a day where he needed someone clear-headed to drive him to the hospital, or someone to jerk him out a puddle of his own vomit before he drowned in it.

Adding Yuffie into the mix only made Rude more determined to stay and protect them. He couldn't stop them, but he could keep them from killing themselves until the drug finally took them. And then, and only then, we he go his separate way.

Only when Reno was laying in the ground surrounding Midgar would Rude leave his best friend.

Reno let loose with a mighty yawn. "Let's get there, hurry." He muttered. Rude could tell that his friend was coming down, hard, and that he really needed to get him to the apartment before he crashed. He couldn't carry both of them, and Yuffie being a girl, she would come first. And then Reno just might get attacked by a monster.

They neared the apartment and Rude drew his key out, sliding it in and hearing the satisfying click that came with unlocking something that belonged to him. Reno stumbled inside and passed out in the middle of the doorway.

Sighing, Rude hauled Yuffie in and lay her down on the bed that used to be his. He then went back and dragged Reno in and closed the door. Once he had settled the two of them in their beds to his satisfaction, Rude, sloughed his shoes and overclothing before settling on the couch, which is where he'd moved to when Yuffie moved in with them.

No one had asked him to; he just felt that you always took care of a woman, and he knew Reno wouldn't give up his bed. He never complained. In fact, he never mentioned it.

Yuffie didn't realize that he didn't prefer to sleep there. Of course he didn't; it was half his height. But it afforded him a place softer to sleep than the floor and it allowed him to get enough rest to go to work on Monday. He didn't mind.

Rude never minded. He was a loyal friend. He'd take a bullet for someone. He'd take the blame for someone. He never realized that really, what was happening, was that he was being taken advantage of.

He yawned one last yawn and closed his eyes, nodding off to sleep just as the sun peaked over the mountains.

**- - - - -**

Yuffie may have become addicted to meth, but she was one step above them.

She insisted on having clean clothes. She washed a load of laundry every other day. It was one of the ingrained habits of Wutai that would never fully leave her. Cleanliness was next to Godliness.

Their electricity was out today, so she was washing them by hand in the tub. The building was old and half the time their power was out because some breaker or another for the building had blown.

Yuffie also showered every day, even on the days when the gas was cut off because there was construction going on. She was used to bathing in ice-cold streams; she could handle a cold shower or two.

In short, Yuffie was not your typical tweaker. That didn't really matter though; tweakers may be different from one another, but one thing united them. Yuffie, being wealthy even without her father's lost fortune, hadn't yet had to resort to stealing to feed her habit, but it was only a matter of time.

Even the wealthiest of addicts eventually became poor because of their habit. The one thing tweakers have in common is their addiction. They will always do anything it takes to get the next hit.

She finished wringing out her last piece of clothing and took the load outside to hang to dry. She brought a book as well; she'd have to wait while they dried or someone would steal them.

Yuffie was feeling good. She had just the right amount of the drug in her system that it gave her a buzz without making her feel sick. She felt like going shopping.

So she left the basket of damp laundry in the apartment and, locking up behind her, headed toward the shopping district in Edge.

Thrift stores. At thrift stores, you get more for your money. Who cares if it's used, as long as it still works? Or looks good?

She hummed happily to herself as she searched through stores for the next good buy. She hadn't bothered to put on makeup or normal clothes (they were all wet anyhow) so she still wore her outfit from last night, and one could see her sunken eyes. In her mind, though, she was hot.

**- - - - -**

Vincent walked into Tifa's bar slowly, taking everything in. The place looked good, of course; Tifa kept on top of things like keeping the place clean. What was out of place was the fact that Tifa was not at the bar.

Shelke was.

She looked so different. She was wearing normal clothing, jeans and a T-shirt, and her hair had grown. He could hear her talking to customers and she'd began to develop something like inflection, rather than the monotone she'd had before. Obviously, living with Cloud and Tifa was good for her.

He'd known to insist that she not stay with him. He would have damaged her somehow, he knew it.

A moment of indecision and he froze. Perhaps he ought to leave. What right had he to come in here and taint everyone's happiness? If, indeed, they were happy.

He had just made the decision to leave when Shelke turned in his direction. Her impassive face suddenly lit up into a smile, still an unfamiliar look to Vincent. She finished what she was doing in a hurry and ran toward him.

"Vincent!" She exclaimed. Vincent froze. Shelke had never called him by just his first name before. She really was coming along, then.

She still looked like she was ten. Vincent supposed that would never change.

Shelke stopped just short of hugging him and smiled. "How have you been?"

Vincent smiled back. It wasn't a mistake to come here. His mere presence wouldn't taint a thing.

**- - - - -**

After the bar closed, everyone had a chance to catch up. Vincent mostly listened. It was what he was best at.

Shelke had really come along. Her face was animated as she described the technical classes she was taking with Reeve. Tifa smiled over her dotingly; she would always be the motherly sort. Finally, however, she had earned the title; the bulge at her belly was nearly full, and according to Cloud she was due to give birth any day.

After everyone was sipping soda or alcohol, according to preference, Vincent gave in and asked.

"Has there been any news?" He asked.

Tifa's face fell. They all knew what he referred to.

"None." Cloud said, shaking his head sadly. "Cid even led a covert operation to Wutai. They dug up the mass grave and buried everyone properly, with prayer sheets and everything" He sighed. "They didn't find Yuffie, but that doesn't mean..."

He trailed off. Everyone knew what he was thinking.

Vincent nodded. It saddened him even more, of course, but his face stayed impassive. He sighed.

"How goes Midgar?"

Cloud filled him in on how it had become a haven for monsters and partygoers alike. "No one even bothers trying to get them out." Cloud said, referring to the humans. "At least they're destroying something that's already dead, and not someone's property."

A knock shattered the silence. Frowning, Tifa got up and waddled toward the door, peeking out the loophole. Her face brightened.

"It's Cid!" She exclaimed, happily, opening the door.

Cid and Shera walked in, all smiles. "We were in the neighborhood..." Shera was saying, when she froze. "Vincent!"

Cid strode toward the gunslinger, happily, and clouted him on the shoulder. "Hey, man, how's it going?"

Vincent nodded in his direction, wincing internally at the force of the pilot's blow. The room was again filled with the sound of lively exchanges and friendship, the bad news forgotten.

**- - - - -**

"Yeah, me'n Shera've been known to go hang out there." Cid said. "Gets pretty wild sometimes, but they got good booze and most of the time, good company." He was, of course, referring to the parties at Midgar. "Music sucks, though."

"You didn't strike me as the partying type, Cid." Cloud said.

The pilot threw his head back and laughed. Finally admitting his love for Shera had mellowed him. "Man, you shoulda known me in flight school. I was never sober."

Tifa giggled, clearly imagining a much-younger Cid partying it up.

"Ya'll should come with sometime." Cid said. "If you ignore the tweakers it's pretty fun. Rufus is usually there, and he usually'll buy a round."

"No way is Tifa going there in her condition!" Cloud exclaimed, protectively. Tifa rolled her eyes.

"I'm pregnant, Cloud, not handicapped!"

"That's not what I meant..." Cloud trailed off. "Look, what if something happened up there? The place is falling apart, and the people are questionable. Until you spit out that kid, it's not safe!"

Tifa pouted, then her face cleared. "Fine, but we'll go after!" She said, shaking her finger in his face.

He laughed. "Fine, if we can find Barret to babysit."

Vincent imagined Barret babysitting and stifled the urge to laugh. Not that he doubted the man's ability, but the image was amusing.

"Well, we're goin' tonight. Any takers?" Cid asked, raising his eyebrow in challenge. Shelke nodded.

"I'll go." She said, standing up. She turned to Vincent appealingly and Cid snorted.

"You're kidding me, right? Vincent at a party?" The blond man chuckled. "He'd just stand there in the corner glaring at everyone."

Vincent felt the urge to go just to be perverse. Just because he didn't like social situations didn't mean he didn't know how to handle them.

The thought of the looks of shock that would cross their faces was enough to make him decide to do it. "I'll go." He said, offhand, shrugging. Cid's eyes bulged and that alone was worth any discomfort Vincent might feel later.

"What will you wear?" Shera asked. Then she stopped. "It's not like there's a dress code or anything, but you're a little...er..." She didn't quite know where to go with that.

"Overdressed?" Cloud supplied.

"Yeah." Shera shot him a relieved look.

"I have other clothes." Vincent said, almost defensively.

"Coulda fooled me." Cid said, crushing a cigarette out in the ash tray at the bar. "Well, Vince, we'll be heading out soon - you and Shelke should get dressed."

**- - - - -**

The loan of a pair of decent shoes from Cloud and a quick brush through his hair with Tifa's thick-bristled hair brush later, and Vincent was ready to go.

"Wow, Vincent." Shera said, blinking at his altered appearance. He was in the button-up, long-sleeved shirt and slacks outfit he'd chosen at the mansion, with a pair of black dress shoes from Cloud. His hair was free of his normal head band. "You clean up nicely."

"...Thanks?" Vincent asked, clearly not quite understanding what she meant. He was always clean. His clothes, maybe not, but he bathed daily.

"Nevermind." Shera said, giggling. She'd changed a lot since Meteor, too.

Besides, Shelke's choice of outfit was more surprising; he thought the outfit, while not his usual getup, was definitely his style. Shelke was wearing a low-cut pair of blue jeans and a tight tank top. Remember, she may be 21 years old, but she looks like she's ten.

The quartet said their goodbyes to Mr. and Mrs. Strife before heading across the brief wasteland between Edge and Midgar. The music was already playing; Vincent could feel the bass beat beneath the soles of his feet and groaned inwardly. With his enhanced sense of hearing, this night would be a nightmare on it's own.

The group was greeted by an ecstatic Rufus Shinra, already drunk, and Reeve Tuesti, seeming a little startled to see Shelke and Vincent tagging along with the other two. Reeve, however, greeted them warmly just the same.

Vincent did accept a drink from Rufus, who, as Cid had predicted, seemed intent on funding that nights' fun entirely on his own. Vincent got the feeling he was trying to make up for something.

After a few hours of spending time with the people who he'd thought had forgotten him, he grudgingly admitted to himself that this place, at least the area where they were, wasn't half bad. He wondered how long such parties went on; himself, he rarely actually tired, and only slept out of necessity. He'd never be a party animal, but seeing the sun rise would not surprise him in the least.

He caught something familiar out of the corner of his eye and froze, turning to face it.

_Yuffie._

She was very different from the last time he'd seen her, of course, but he'd never forget that lithe, graceful frame, or calf muscles toned from years of ninja exercises. He'd never forget those eyes.

Her hair was much longer, and she was dressed even more revealingly than when he'd last seen her, in a pair of skintight short shorts and a tight tank top ensemble. Her makeup was wild and she was obviously not herself.

But it was definitely Yuffie. He glanced back toward his group and noticed they hadn't noticed anything unusual. He wondered if he'd just imagined it.

Glancing back, he was reassured. It was definitely Yuffie. And something was definitely wrong, but he couldn't place it. Obviously out of place was the wild makeup and clothing, and the fact that she was dancing very provocatively next to a man he didn't recognize. But something else was off.

Something was very wrong with Yuffie Kisaragi, and Vincent was determined to find out what.


	2. The Grass Is Greener On The Other Side

**Diamonds and Guns**

_**Chapter Two - They Say The Grass Is Greener On The Other Side**_

_There's gotta be more to life than just this  
Your life compared to mine is like wine compared to piss  
You say it gets better, well fuck that!  
You don't walk outside your house and feel the need to stay strapped  
You never paid rent off of cocaine and weed  
Man, I dance with the devil, but I never get to lead  
Don't get me wrong, if I could, I'd make a change  
Been so bad, for so long, any good is so strange  
They say the grass is greener on the other side, shit  
But the fence is in the way now, and I ain't buyin' it  
I'm in a cloud of smoke, but my feet are on the ground  
Even when I'm dead and gone, I'll always be around  
I'ma walk to my funeral like my middle name was Lynch  
In the game, ridin' high, while you fuckers ride the bench..._

-- The Transplants, "_Hit The Fence_"

Yuffie was winding down the night that next morning, in a café with Reno and Rude, giggling impishly and drinking coffee. Right at the tail end of a high she got incredibly hungry, and she'd ordered a huge breakfast, complete with bacon, eggs, toast, hash browns, and pancakes.

Reno gaped as she put it all away, too. There was a reason she hadn't lost any weight yet.

Yuffie was so involved in eating that she didn't notice when someone who should have been very familiar to her walked into the diner, sat at a table across from her, and quietly ordered a coffee and some toast.

To give Yuffie the benefit of the doubt, she was very involved in her food, and Vincent, while still unmistakably Vincent, was not wearing his usual getup.

Vincent had been trailing after Yuffie, Reno and Rude since the trio left about an hour ago. He saw, disgustedly, as Yuffie gave Reno head in an alleyway while Rude took a leak about 12 feet away from them, and then followed them to the diner, where he listened intently. He didn't even remotely feel abashed for listening in.

"That was some amazing shit, Reno." Yuffie said, around a mouthful of egg over medium. "We've gotta buy from again."

"You bet, babe." Reno said, stretching his arm out over her shoulders. "Best tweak in town, just sayin'. Stuff costs."

Yuffie swatted his hand away, utterly engrossed in her food. "You know I got the money, Reno. We're good."

Rude sighed. The other two didn't notice.

Vincent frowned. He must be really out of the loop. He had no clue what they were talking about, but he assumed it was some sort of drug.

That was the only think he could think of that would make Yuffie act so un-Yuffielike.

"Yuffie, Reno." Rude spoke, quietly. He glanced out the window and down at his watch. "We ought to get home."

Yuffie let loose with an undignified burp and slapped down a ten-gil note. "Fine with me, I'm done." She smiled.

Vincent had already known it was Yuffie, of course, but now he had confirmation. He placed a five-gil note on the table and prepared to leave after they did.

He was going to find out where Yuffie was staying.

**- - - - -**

Cloud was startled when Vincent strolled in an hour after everyone else. He didn't look ruffled, but there was a glint in his eyes that made the former mercenary stand back.

Way back.

Vincent said nothing as he stormed - well, as much as Vincent ever storms, that is - toward the room Tifa had given him the night prior. Cloud, very wisely, also said nothing.

"What was that all about?" Tifa asked Cid, who was winding down from a long night with a cup of decaf coffee. Cid shrugged.

"Dunno. He just took off at the party, weird look in his eyes. Hadn't seen him in a few hours." He shrugged again. "Vincent can take care of 'imself. I figured he'd be fine."

"Obviously not." Tifa said, softly, staring toward the staircase Vincent had just ascended. Obviously, something was very wrong.

**- - - - -**

Vincent did not rest well that day. His sleep was broken by dreams of Yuffie, with her new, long hair, doing unspeakable things to get a high, to anyone. It would have been erotic if not for the subject matter.

He awoke shortly after noon, after about four hours of sleep, not feeling rested at all. He sighed and dressed in his usual getup, deciding that if sleep were not going to come willingly, he would not force it.

He descended the stairs to Tifa's bar, unknowingly wearing the same expression he was wearing last night. Not much of a drinker, he politely asked Tifa for a water and sat staring at it for a few minutes.

"Something happen last night, Vincent?" Tifa asked, quietly. There wasn't anyone else in the bar mid-day, of course, but Tifa was generally very quiet unless she needed to be otherwise.

Vincent shook his head. He didn't wish to discuss Yuffie at the moment. He knew Tifa would either not believe him, or be so upset she'd be useless the rest of the day.

This was something he'd have to take care of himself.

His head shot up. Since when did he take care of other people's problems? If Yuffie wished to kill herself by a slow destruction of drug use and promiscuous sex, was that not her right?

He finished his water and walked toward the door. "I will return in a while, Tifa." He said, absentmindedly remembering that it was considered polite to let the people who cared about you know what you were doing.

He walked to where he knew that Yuffie was staying, just in time to see her exit, still in her party clothing. She headed toward Edge's small shopping district, and started grabbing things off of shelves that she couldn't possibly need. Vincent could tell she was again "tweaking," whatever that was. He'd have to ask Shelke to use her computer later, and find out what exactly that meant.

Know thine enemy. Vincent's enemy, in this case, was whatever drug Yuffie was doing. He knew for sure it wasn't cocaine, as he'd had experience with that particular demon as a Turk. Before they started injecting Turks with Mako, they'd given them pills and drugs - something to keep them from defecating, and something to keep them awake. The awake drug was cocaine, and Vincent was very familiar with its effects.

Of course, after Shrina was done using you for any particular mission, they gave something to relax you and something to let you release your bowels. You didn't want to leave any trail when you were on a covert mission, even feces.

They'd stopped doing that when they realized Mako simply gave you more endurance and strength, and hyper-awareness of your surroundings, permanently. With cocaine you could never tell how it was going to affect any one person, depending on their body chemistry. With Mako, the results were always the same.

Vincent sighed and began the arduous task of tracking Yuffie.

**- - - - -**

Yuffie was having a blast. She loved shopping. Anything and everything! She had to blow her fortune somehow, why not having fun?

Years of hunting monsters to hone her skill, as well as her treks with Cloud and crew, had left her independently wealthy, aside from her money as a princess, which had indeed been saved. She could get high for eighty years and still have money left.

She began walking back to their place. Really, she should get her own apartment. It's not like she didn't have the money, and she needed a place to keep all of the stuff she kept buying. But she liked living with Reno and Rude. They knew all of the best places to party. At least Reno did. Rude was kind of a bore.

She draped her various bags of stuff around her and started walking home, chipperly. Crossing the street, she dodged traffic and headed toward her house, almost missing him.

She glanced up at exactly the right time and saw Vincent. The red cape was a dead giveawaye, of course, but the long hair and claw could have pointed her to him as well.

Vincent was passing her on the street. He said nothing to her, but his eyes flicked in her direction and it was obvious that he recognized her. And still, he said nothing.

Yuffie hurried home, feeling a brief wave of nostalgia, for back in the days when she'd have screamed "Vinnie!" and glomped him. But that Yuffie didn't exist anymore. That little kid died the day Wutai did.

No, Yuffie was on her own. Vincent or no Vincent.

**- - - - -**

Vincent had just decided to leave and go back to Tifa's bar when Yuffie's eyes caught his. He, for the first time in his life, desperately wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her until she saw the light, but he knew that wouldn't work. Worse, it would look stupid and threatening coming from him. Yuffie was her own person, and if she was this far gone, there was nothing he could do to stop her until she decided she wanted to stop. Only then could he help her.

But he resolved to himself that he would be there for her. He had several sins to atone for, but for once, he could say that this wasn't part of his atonement. No, Vincent Valentine was not saving Yuffie Kisaragi for sins past.

He was, oddly enough, saving her because she was one of the few people he thought was worth saving. And that, of course, was quite a concession.

**- - - - -**

When Vincent returned to the bar, he caused a small uproar.

Not by discussing Yuffie. That would never happen. No, he caused a small uproar by announcing that he'd like to stay in Edge for a few months, how much did Tifa charge for rooms?

Not only was that a shock (he never stayed anywhere for more than a month at a time, at most), but Tifa refused to take his money. She and Cloud had more than enough, she argued, even without the bar, from the whole Meteor thing. His money wasn't welcome there.

Vincent refused to stay without paying, and deadpanned that perhaps he should go stay somewhere where is money WAS welcome.

Once that blew over, Shelke levelheadedly suggested that perhaps Vincent could take a shift at the bar every week to help out. That'd make up for the room, and appeal to Vincent's sense of honor.

He agreed to take Wednesdays over, which is when Tifa and Cloud went to her lamaze classes.

Shelke asked him if he needed any help and Vincent assured her that he did not. One of his many undercover assignments had involved becoming a bartender for two months to find out information about the owner of said bar.

And so the weeks passed. Every Wednesday, Vincent resolutely took charge of Tifa's bar as she and Cloud headed out to learn about giving birth, and Shelke disappeared to wherever it was she and Reeve went to learn. Every other night, Vincent surreptitiously went to the parties at Midgar, making sure no true ill befell Yuffie.

Vincent was a strange person to tap as a guardian angel, but then again, God always did have a sense of humor.


	3. My Favorite Damn Disease

**Diamonds and Guns**

_**Chapter Three - My Favorite Damn Disease**_

_I like your pants around your feet  
I like the dirt that's on your knees  
I like the way you still say please  
While you're lookin' up at me  
You're like my favorite damn disease..._

-- Nickelback, "_Figured You Out_"

Vincent went to the parties every week, but he never made friends. Occasionally, if it suited him, he'd spend time with Cid and Shera, or their friends, or some of the former Shinra execs, although he generally tried to avoid Scarlet, because she hung on him in a manner that made him want to hit her, and one doesn't hit girls if one could help it.

That night, he was at a table with Cid, Shera, and two of Cid's engineering students who worked on the ship bearing his wife's name. Tasha was essentially a female version of Cid, complete with ever-present cigarette and the mouth of a SOLDIER 1st Class. Unlike Cid, she didn't drink much, and declared herself the evening's "Designated Walker," meaning, she made sure everyone gave the right address to the taxi driver.

Hannah, on the other hand, enjoyed her drinking enough that Vincent was glad her friend was here, sober, to take care of her. He didn't sense that this was an everyday thing for her, but how a girl with as slight a frame as hers could imbibe that much alcohol was beyond him.

The two girls were like night and day - Tasha with short black hair, and Hannah with long blonde hair. Tasha, slightly masculine in personality, with skintight cargo pants and a tool belt always draped around her waist, and Hannah, wearing a skirt and makeup. They declared themselves best friends. Hannah promptly got into a drinking contest with Cid, while Tasha eyed Vincent and rolled her eyes at the two of them. She then lit a cigarette.

At some point Shera and Tasha got into a discussion about stage engineering, which both of them had a fondness for, and Vincent zoned out, searching for Yuffie.

He spotted her in the corner where all of the drug users hung out. He'd discovered what tweak was - methamphetamines, either taken intravenously or through the nose, and occasionally smoked as well. Vincent suspected that Yuffie snorted the stuff, like one would with cocaine - she had no visible track marks on her arms from shooting it up, and her teeth were fine, so she probably wasn't smoking it.

She began making out with Reno, and disgusted, Vincent turned back to the conversation at hand.

"...I used to be a paramedic." Tasha was saying to Shera. "Then that got boring and I tried my hand at journalism. That got boring too. Stage work is the one thing that's always been interesting to me." She chuckled. "That and flying, that is."

"Tasha's sort of a jack of all trades." Hannah said, hiccuping. "I got her interested in engineering, but she'll probably get bored with that once she's gotten her degree, too."

Vincent eyed the girls interestedly. College educated, even? He wondered how old they were.

Shera obviously did too. She eyed them suspiciously. "How old are you two?"

"27." Hannah said. "Tasha's 28." She hiccuped again. "Damn. I think I better quit drinking."

Tasha rolled her eyes and downed her soda.

The next few hours passed relatively pleasantly, despite Hannah's brief vomiting episode, and Vincent actually found himself forgetting that he was there duty-bound, instead of to listen to interesting conversation. He didn't add much to the conversation, of course, but he listened intently.

Almost forgot, of course. Yuffie was always at the back of his mind, so when screaming started at the drug-users corner, he was on his feet very suddenly, very alert.

"Oh my GAWD!" A woman screamed. "Someone help!"

The crowd parted briefly and Vincent saw something that made his heart skip a beat - Yuffie was face-down on the floor, spasming harshly.

He ran over, aware that someone was following him. He approached the crowd and pushed people out of his way, trying to reach Yuffie. He got to her and was pushed out of the way by someone else.

Vincent snarled and turned to hit the person in question, when he saw that it was Tasha. He recalled her stint as a paramedic and decided that perhaps he ought to let her continue her ministrations.

"Oh God." Tasha said. She checked Yuffie's pulse and then turned her over, carefully but fast. "What did she do?"

The crowd around her began to thin out and those remaining got very shifty-eyed indeed.

Vincent stood and grabbed Reno by the collar. "What did she do?" He hissed, dangerously. If Chaos hadn't left him he'd have changed right then and destroyed the former Turk.

"Uh...uh..." Reno stuttered.

"Speed." Rude said, quietly, from behind him. "Typical methamphetamine. No one else who did it is reacting weird. She probably overdosed. It was her first time using a needle instead of snorting it." He paused. "She fell over and said her kidneys hurt, and then she passed out and started twitching."

"Oh God." Tasha said. Yuffie was absolutely covered in sweat. Tasha took her pulse and looked up at Vincent. "Her heart's racing." She reached into her ever-present tool belt and extracted a first aid kit. "Everyone, get back, now!"

The crowd thinned out even more. Vincent refused to go. "What's wrong with her?" He asked.

"She's overdosed on methamphetamines. If she hits anyone she can hurt them or herself, but we can't crowd her or hold her down. That'll increase her panic and stress her heart more." She opened the first aid kit and Rude respectfully wistled through his teeth. Tasha carried a full combat medic kit with her.

The dark-haired girl leaned over the shinobi and injected something and taped it down. "I'm starting an IV. Vincent, hand me the red bottle over there." She pointed with her free hand. "It's D5W, a glucose solution. She needs it." Vincent obliged. When Tasha was done she injected a large dose of valium into the IV. "That'll take care of her for now, but we need to get her to a hospital, now." She said to Vincent. "Or else she's dead."

"Where's the nearest hospital?" Vincent asked Rude.

"In Edge." Rude said. He looked at Vincent over his sunglasses. "About a block from our house. You know the place?"

Vincent nodded. At Tasha's advice, he covered Yuffie up with his cloak ("She has to stay warm, Vincent!") and gathered her up in his arms. He turned and began to run.

He heard noises near him and saw Rude and Tasha running with him, keeping up the pace and carrying the IV above her head. "Try not to jostle her too much, Vincent." Tasha said, concern in her eyes. "We don't want to stress her heart too much, and we can't rip this out."

It seemed like a lifetime, but about ten minutes later, the ragtag group ran into the hospital emergency room. Sudden chaos interrupted and a doctor was there.

"What's wrong with her?" He asked.

"Overdose, it looks like." Tasha said. "Methamphetamines. I don't think there was anything tainting it, no one else in her group seems to have reacted badly." She was barely breathing hard, which impressed Vincent in a small corner of his mind. "I gave her a shot of Valium in the IV to stabilize her, but she needs to be put on life support."

The doctor nodded, not even questioning Tasha's expertise. He must have known her when she was a paramedic. "Stretcher, here." He pushed it toward Vincent and carefully he lay her down, arranging her limbs in a sort of brotherly concern.

"You two." The doctor said, taking Vincent and Rude in in his glance. "You know her? What's her name?"

"Yuffie." Vincent said, grimly. Tasha was startled; she had just done what was second nature, which was to help someone in trouble. She didn't realize that Vincent knew the girl.

"Do you know her history?" The doctor said. At their nods, he pointed them toward a station with a secretary at it. "Go talk to her. If you know any of her allergies or blood type or anything like that, let her know."

So Vincent and Rude sat at the nurses' station, while someone dictated everything they knew about Yuffie Kisaragi.

**- - - - -**

"Name?"

"Yuffie Kisaragi. Y-U-F-F-I-E K-I-S-A-R-A-G-I." Rude spelled out.

"Blood type?"

"A positive." Vincent intoned.

There was a commotion down the hallway halfway through the information session as Reno burst in, asking hurriedly about information about his girlfriend. Vincent flew into something of a rage at that point, punching Reno and demanding that he leave the building.

After they were done, Vincent and Rude sat in the waiting room, and Vincent apologized to Rude for hitting his friend.

"Don't worry about it." Rude brushed it off. He didn't say why.

About an hour after that, Tasha wandered out, her party clothes and tool belt covered with a doctor's smock. Apparently, the doctor had commandeered her to help save Yuffie's life.

"Your friend is going to make it." Tasha said, quietly. As much as Vincent knew about her, he knew this was a big deal. Tasha didn't seem the quiet type. "But she cannot be allowed to overstress her heart again until it heals. She can't do speed again." She sighed. "Overdoses as major as hers have something like a 30 chance of survival. She's very lucky." Tasha paused. "I can tell that she was active at one point. Whatever her sport was, encourage her, in small doses. It'll take her mind off it. She's going to be very depressed while she goes through the withdrawals. She'll be irrational, and very, very sneaky and suspicious. We've got her on a sucrose drip right now, because her body needs energy. She's getting regular doses of all of the B-vitamins; they help fend off depression." She looked at Vincent. "Are you going to take her when she's released? It'll probably be next week, whenever she regains consciousness. She'll be released into Shinra police custody if there's not someone to take care of her." Vincent nodded. "Good. She also broke her arm while she was thrashing around back there. That'll need to be looked after as well, especially when she's exercising." She gestured to the chairs and Vincent and Rude obediently sat down.

"Vincent, taking care of a drug addict coming down unwillingly is not a fun thing to do." Tasha was saying this very quietly, and Vincent got the idea that she may have done it before. "They're going to want that drug, irrationally. Also, overdoses of meth have been known to effect mental ability. She may never be the same." She sounded incredibly sad. "She may get disoriented often, and unexplainable vertigo. Her cognitive thinking, her ability to ascertain cause and effect, is also going to be impaired. She may gain weight; her metabolism is almost definitely going to be screwed up, for at least a while. Her pituitary gland was damaged in the seizure and it'll take time to heal. You will have to reassure her that she's pretty, because the weight gain will effect her self-image and drive her even deeper into depression. Make sure she eats lots of dark greens, like spinach and broccoli, so that she gets folic acid, and feed her supplements if you can. She could also use all of the other B vitamins, and large doses of vitamin C." She stopped when she saw Vincent nodding, obviously recording all of this for further recall. "Vincent, this is a big deal. She's going to need supervision and friendship for six months, at least. That's how long the depression and irrational thinking can last - up to a year, and sometimes a lifetime. If she's alone, she'll be ruined. Make sure that when she's in the bathroom or shower, she's got either supervision or nothing around that she could kill herself with. She will be suicidal. She may also have coordination problems, and could trip and hurt herself, so make sure wherever you keep her is wide and open. She'll be very thirsty. Make sure she drinks lots of water; see if you can get a lot of that electrolyte-infused stuff. Sports drinks aren't very good for you, but water with electrolytes will do. If not, when you give her the folic acid supplements, give her a salt pill, too." She sighed again. "She cannot be allowed to see any of the people from her former life; Rude, I'm sorry, but she can't be allowed to see Reno again. It will drive her further into the depression and make her want the drug more. I'm not even sure seeing you would be a good idea."

"Understood." Rude said, nodding.

"Also, Vincent, she's going to get breakouts on her face and back, and wherever else she might sweat profusely." Tasha continued. "Once again, this is a self-image issue. You and everyone around her are going to have to constantly reassure her that she is not ugly, even with these image issues, or she might go so far as to attempt suicide." Another pause. "As you can see, this is a really, really big commitment, Vincent. Are you sure you can handle it?"

Vincent was quiet for a long while before answering. "I believe I owe it to her, Tasha." He said, slowly. "Yuffie has a lot of other friends, as well, so I believe she will be well taken care of. But I will not fail her." He said, resolutely.

"Good." Tasha said, standing up. "Because failure on your part could mean death on hers. I'll type up all of the instructions I just told you about, if you'd like." Vincent nodded. "And here's my card. If she starts having any episodes where no one knows what to do, call me. Sedation is sometimes the best thing, but you have to be licensed to administer the kind of drugs it would take."

Vincent accepted the card, gravely, hoping it wouldn't come to that.

"She's going to be out of it for a few days, and we're going to keep her here for that. I suggest you go make your preparations now." Tasha said. Suddenly, there was a loud noise at the entrance of the waiting room, and Cid, Shera and Hannah walked in.

"Reno came back to the party, Vince." Cid said. "Said something 'bout you keeping him from his girlfriend." He glanced at the gunslinger, knowing this was all highly out of character.

"Yuffie's going to be fine." Tasha said. The shock on Cid's face was palpable, and only slightly less so on Shera's. Hannah, not knowing Yuffie, didn't look shocked at all.

"Yuffie?" Cid asked, incredulously. "Yuffie is here?"

Tasha nodded and because she wasn't looking at Vincent, she didn't know to keep quiet. "She suffered a major overdose, but she's going to make it, as long as she doesn't overexert herself. It placed a huge amount of strain on her heart."

Cid's face became completely blank. Those who knew Cid knew that was when he was feeling his deadliest, and so no one said anything. If they did, there was a good chance he'd put two and two together, and realize that Reno had introduced Yuffie to methamphetamines.

Vincent left their company after that, traveling slowly toward Final Heaven. That was the only place he knew where Yuffie could get better; who else could take care of an erstwhile friend like those who had the strength to save the planet - three times?

He walked in and was surprised to find that Cid and Shera were already there, along with Tasha and Hannah. No one had said anything to Tifa, feeling that it was Vincent's place to do so.

"What's going on, here, Vincent?" Tifa demanded. "These four have been more tight-lipped than an adamantoise."

Vincent sighed and sat down, and slowly began the story of how, about a month ago, he'd noticed Yuffie and her addiction, and continued watching her. He finished with the overdose and the trip to the hospital, and then stopped and stared at a point over Tifa's head.

"Wow, Vincent." Tifa said, slowly. "A few years ago Yuffie would have been so happy that you cared so much."

Vincent frowned and said nothing. Why _did_ he care so much?

"So, Vincent, what now?" Cloud asked. A worried look was upon the former mercenary's face. "Is Yuffie okay?"

"She's fine for now." Vincent said, nodding at Tasha. "But she's going to need to be looked after if we want her to make it."

"It's a hard gig." Tasha said, very, very briefly going over everything she'd said to Vincent earlier. "But if you want her to survive, that's what it's going to take."

"Well, then, we just need to bring her here when she's finished at the hospital." Tifa said, resolutely. Cloud balked.

"I don't want anything to happen to Yuffie either, Tifa, but we don't want the kind of people she's friends with coming around here."

Tifa rolled her eyes and Vincent spoke up. "You will not need to worry about that, Cloud." Vincent said, a hard set to his eyes. The look on his face suggested that any of Yuffie's "friends" who attempted to contact her might be getting the wrong end of Death Penalty.

"Well, then, if you guys are going to be her caretakers, I can take one of you shopping for what you're going to need." Tasha said, standing. "It's a long list."

Vincent nodded and rose, much to Tifa's surprise. "Do you need money, Vincent?" Tifa asked, worriedly.

Vincent shook his head. "No, thank you, Tifa." He said politely. He and Tasha left.

"Wow." Cloud said. "Did you see that?"

"I did." Shera said, softly. "Vincent is worried."

**- - - - -**

Indeed, Vincent was worried. He and Tasha were at the market for several hours while she loaded, in the early-morning light, crates of electrolyte water, boxes of bottles of vitamin supplements, cans of green vegetables, medication, special nonpoisonous soaps and shampoos, and other assorted implements onto a flat cart. Luckily a popular bulk store had opened recently, and Tasha happened to have a membership there.

"Why do you care?" Vincent asked, as the waited in line to pay for their items. "You do not know Yuffie. She is not your friend. Why do you care so much?"

Tasha smiled. "Because I'm a doctor, Vincent. I left the profession because I saw people doing it for money, but I'm a doctor first. You take care of people." Her smile widened. "And also, because it's in my blood. My dad was an addict. His dad was an addict. My husband is even a recovering addict. And when my dad got clean, he made it a habit to help other people get clean. I can't count the times someone was crashed on our couch, only to be woken up by my dad and the Big Book." She chuckled. "But still, it is something I feel is my duty to do. Drug addiction is a nasty, nasty thing. If I can have a hand in ridding the world in it, I'm going to."

Vincent had a feeling that she'd have gotten along with AVALANCHE.

They walked back to Final Heaven in silence. She helped him unload the gear off the store's flatbed into his room, and then took the flatbed back for him, waving cheerily. "Doc said she'd be released sometime soon. I'd go see about giving them your PHS number so that they can call you to come pick her up."

Vincent resolved to do exactly that - after he'd slept. For the first time in a very long time, he was exhausted.

**- - - - -**

Yuffie shot up in her bed. She had no idea where she was, and not a clue as to where she'd last been. She hated it when she blacked out.

"Where am I?" She asked the darkness around her.

"You're awake." A familiar voice said. A shuffling around her. "You should lay down."

"Who are you?" She asked, annoyed. "I don't want to rest."

"You almost died, Yuffie." The voice said, quietly. Slowly her eyes became adjusted to the darkness. "You were very lucky."

"How would you know?" She demanded. "Maybe I wanted to die? Did you ever think of that? Huh?" Her eyes became completely adjusted to the dark of the room and she gasped. "Vincent?"

He acknowledged her exclamation with an inclination of his head. She reared back and punched him.

Had Vincent even remotely expected that she was in the condition to be punching things, he would have blocked the blow. However, he was not, and hence her fist did connect with his nose.

He grabbed her arm and twisted it, not nearly as hard as he could, while he held his claw up to examine the damage. Bloody nose, that was all.

He released her and left, speaking to someone outside the room. "She's awake. Be prepared to deal with childish antics."

Someone else walked in. Tifa.

She looked heartbroken. "Did you have to hit him, Yuffie? He's spent the last few days in here looking after you, without any rest or food. And he was at the hospital every day before they released you, too."

"No one asked him to." Yuffie responded, rudely.

"No." Tifa said, staring at the door. "No, I suppose no one did."

_Author's Notes: The Tasha character is based loosely on me, and Hannah on one of my good friends. All of the information about drug addiction, overdose, and treatment I got from my dad and husband - both recovering addicts, and my dad's a medical professional. Aren't they great, letting me interview them for a stupid piece of fanfiction? _


	4. Fragments Of A Broken Mind

**Diamonds and Guns**

_**Chapter Four - Fragments Of A Broken Mind**_

_Like fragments of a broken mind  
I splinter by my own design_

-- The Offspring, "_The Long Way Home_" 

"Why?" Yuffie asked, crossly. "Why won't you just let me get high?" (1)

Vincent sighed and left the room. Luckily for them, Tifa had a room without a window, which is where Yuffie was being kept. There was, quite literally, no escape.

Not that Vincent doubted that Yuffie, if anyone, could escape. She'd already tried once.

The former ninja had been at Tifa's bar a week and already things were getting out of hand. When Tasha had suggested that this would be "a tough gig," he hadn't expected the severity of Yuffie's mood swings and paranoia, which shifted on a minute-to-minute basis.

"It induces something very similar to bipolar disorder." Tasha explained later that night, down in Tifa's bar. Yuffie had become so violent that Vincent had called her to subdue her. "It's a temporary chemical imbalance in the brain. Well, hopefully it's temporary." She knocked back the rest of her soda. "By the way, Vincent, you have a leaf of some sort in your hair."

Vincent frowned and irritably brushed the piece of spinach, for that's what it was, out of his hair. Earlier that day Yuffie had thrown her dinner at him, showering him with vegetable matter. He was still finding, despite his careful cleaning earlier, pieces of food about his person.

"You are keeping her hydrated?" Tasha asked. Vincent nodded.

"That special water is about the only thing she ingests anymore." He said, frowning. "She won't take her pills, she won't eat."

"It's the depression talking and acting." Tasha said. "Don't let it get to you."

In any other situation, Vincent wouldn't. He was the impassive, hard-to-insult sort. But for some reason, Yuffie Kisaragi knew exactly which buttons to push.

"Really, Shelke, is this necessary?" Yuffie said, sweetly.

"Yes it is, Yuffie Kisaragi." When dealing with Yuffie, Shelke reverted back to her old Deepground persona, which was much better for dealing with someone completely irrational, as Yuffie was. "You must be monitored."

"While I shower?" Yuffie demanded, angrily. Shelke found herself almost knocked over by the swiftness of Yuffie's mood swing.

"Yes, Yuffie Kisaragi. Even in the shower." Shelke deadpanned. "I will leave while you undress and get in. Do not bother locking the door; I have the key."

Yuffie huffed and stripped off her shirt, throwing it at the rapidly-closing door. "Bitch!" She exclaimed.

There was no answer. Shelke truly was unphasable.

Yuffie had, after waking up from the sleep drugs that Tasha had given her, finally decided to acquiese long enough to gain a shower. The fact that she was watched over, even in the bath, infuriated her.

_Why can't they just let me get high? _She thought to herself. _It's not hurting anyone, and it makes me feel better!_

She tossed off her pants and underwear, nudging them untrustfully. They were dirty. Finally, she kicked them into a corner and locked the door, and then stepped into the shower.

For a brief few seconds she relaxed under the hot stream of water, before she heard the lock unclick and Shelke step into the room. She heard the girl move around for a few seconds, and then sit down on the closed toilet seat. Some ruffling told Yuffie that she was probably reading a book or a magazine.

When she finished, she stood there for a few seconds and then loudly said "I'm finished."

"Very well." Shelke stood. "There is a bathrobe in here for you. Tifa will bring you some clothing later. I will give you five minutes to towel off and put your bathrobe on, and then I will come in."

Yuffie gritted her teeth as the younger girl left the room. She was being treated like a fucking child, and she resented the hell out of it.

**- - - - -**

"You have a visitor." Vincent's voice came through the thick wooden door. Yuffie was fitfully biting her nails. She was bored out of her skull.

"Go away." She hissed.

The door opened against all of her wishes, and Rude stood in the doorway.

"Rude!" She exclaimed, happily. "You have _got _to get me out of here, man, I'm going insane with boredom! They even watch me while I shower! It's annoying!"

Rude shook his head sadly. "Yuffie, I just came to tell you..."

"What? You're not gonna help me?" Rude shook his head and expertly dodged the (plastic) lamp that Yuffie threw at his head. "THEN GET OUT, YOU BALD MOTHERFUCKER!" She screamed.

Rude sighed and removed his sunglasses. That was enough to give Yuffie pause. "Yuffie, Reno's dead."

Yuffie, who had been heading toward Rude with a clenched fist, stopped in her tracks. "What?"

"Last night. He OD'd." He snorted to himself, and even Yuffie could see that there was a bit of moisture in the dark man's eyes. "There's only a thirty percent chance of surviving a meth overdose. You were lucky." A humorless laugh. "Reno wasn't."

Yuffie stared at Rude until he became uncomfortable, at which point he put his sunglasses on. "Look, Yuffie, I just came to tell you. What you do with your life is your decision." He turned and headed toward the door. Reaching for the knob, he paused and turned back toward her. "But know this, Yuffie: I just buried my best friend. I won't bury you. You're on your own."

Yuffie's jaw dropped and she stared at the closing door in amazement.

**- - - - -**

"Who the fuck are you?" Yuffie demanded of the girl who walked in with Vincent.

"Never mind." Tasha said. She nodded at Vincent. "You good?"

Vincent nodded back.

Suddenly Yuffie was immobilized. At the back of her mind, she was impressed with how fast the old man moved; Vincent had to be well into his fifties, if not his sixties, and yet he'd managed to keep her, Yuffie Kisaragi, former ninja, completely still, despite the fact that she was attempting to struggle valiantly.

However, the outside part of Yuffie was screaming. "You fucking bastard! Get off me!" She yelled, trying vainly to struggle and kick at her attackers.

Before she knew what was happening, Tasha had slapped a pair of handcuffs on the younger girl. Vincent grabbed them and pulled her up, earning a yelp from Yuffie, who had suddenly just had her arms pulled almost out of their sockets.

"What the fuck, Valentine?" She yelled.

Tasha chuckled. "Let's go.

"My name is Mike, and I'm an addict." A scrawny, scruffy man said. His blue eyes looked haunted. "I have two months clean and sober."

Polite applause.

Yuffie snorted and was nudged threateningly by Vincent. Her hands had been recuffed in front of her once the trio had reached the doors proclaiming "The Alano Club."

To her horror, Yuffie discovered that this place was where meetings of various 12-step groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Gamblers Anonymous (GA), Nicotine Anonymous(NicA), Sex Addicts Anonymous (SAA), and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) were held. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me." She said, trying to back up when she realized what was going on. "I don't belong here, you jerks!"

"I'm sure." Tasha, for that was her name, had said, jovially. "Most of these people don't, then."

She glowered at the older woman.

"I've been asked to lead tonight's reading of the 12 Steps." Mike continued. Everyone in the room, including Tasha and Vincent, stood politely. Vincent gently lifted Yuffie to her feet; she had a brief moment of hope for escape, before his claw came down on her shoulder, threatening and cold.

The people in the room, minus Vincent and Yuffie, but including Tasha, began to chant. To Yuffie it sounded stupid, like some sort of primitive rain dance.

"Step one: We admitted we were powerless over our addiction, and that our lives had become unmanageable." The group said. They continued through twelve steps, each of which Yuffie found more ludicrous than the one before.

Then another person got up and there was more chanting, until finally it was obvious that they could all sit down again.

"Welcome to the night meeting of Narcotics Anonymous." A young looking man said. He was also thin and grizzled, and looked as if he'd been hit by a semi at some point. Yuffie vaguely wondered if it was Palmer, and giggled to herself.

"My name is Chuck, and I'm an addict." The man said. The group chorused "Hi, Chuck!" And Yuffie rolled her eyes.

"I see a lot of new faces out there tonight." Chuck said, smiling. "Welcome."

Yuffie yawned.

"For the newcomers, who would like to share their story?"

Mike, from earlier, raised his hand tentatively.

"Mike! Come on up." Chuck said, gesturing at the seat next to him. He looked proud, for some ungodly reason.

"My name's Mike, and I'm an addict, like I said." The man said, nervously. He ran his hands through his hair as he sat down. "I've got two months clean and sober. This is my third try at getting clean. I think I might make it this time." He smiled. There were encouraging murmurs throughout the room.

"I'd always liked doing drugs." He said. "I started drinking when I was about 12, but before I had a chance to become an alcoholic, I moved on to pot. By the time I was 16, I was doing speed on a pretty regular basis, and when Meteor was summoned, I switched to cocaine. I think that I figured we were all gonna die, I might as well have fun in the process." There were a lot of mutterings throughout the room; obviously a lot of the people here had had a similar experience.

"When I was 17 I got a girl pregnant. We had a little girl, and we named her Jasmine. She's 10 now, and pretty adorable." Mike said, smiling. Then he frowned. "Her mom died of an overdose about five months after she was born. Jasmine was born addicted to heroin; You'd think being told that my daughter would have to be administered methadone for a few weeks after she was born would have made me snap to the fact that this was all fucked up, but no." He laughed. "No, I just left her with my parents and went on."

"A few years later I had another kid, this time a boy. I think. I'm still not sure if Nathan is mine, but she seemed pretty positive that he was, and he has my nose." He sighed. "Both of my children are wards of the state now, in and out of foster care. I can't take care of myself yet, let alone my children." He sighed again and put his head in his hands. "Nathan is too young to know what's going on, so he's just happy when I come to see him. Jasmine hates me. I think she wants me to just go away. I've stopped visiting her as often. I know I shouldn't, but she's so hostile and it's so depressing." He took a drink of coffee and looked up again. "At one point I had a pretty good job with Shinra. My last girlfriend, before Meteor, we bought a house together in Kalm. And a car. Life was, despite the addiction, pretty sweet. I'd go to work during the day, party it up at night, and if I came down in time I'd catch a nap for an hour or so, and then I'd start over again." He coughed nervously. "That's all gone now. I lost my house and my car, and my girlfriend, because of drugs. I lost my children, and I almost lost my life. None of my friends who aren't addicts like me anymore, and my former friends who are addicts think I'm a narc now. I go home every night to an empty apartment and I fight the urge to go out and use. I usually call my sponsor when it gets really bad. I just have to keep remembering, you know, that it works if you let it. That life is always better without drugs in it." He stopped abruptly.

Yuffie yawned again. Sure, this guy had lost a lot to drugs, but not everyone who uses drugs is an addict. And not everyone has anything to lose, either.

"Okay. Tonight's meeting is part workshop." Chuck said, patting Mike on the back as he returned to his seat. "I want everyone who has at least a month sober to pair up with someone. I want each of you to write down your list of people you've harmed that you need to make amends to. You don't have to put why if you don't want to." He smiled at everyone. "Everyone who has less than a month sober, please come see me at the table."

Yuffie was led unwillingly to the table by Vincent and Tasha.

"Tasha!" Chuck said, shaking her hand. "I didn't see you here."

"I haven't been here in a while." She said. She smiled at the man. "It's been a long time." She nodded toward them. "This is Vincent, and this is Yuffie. This is Yuffie's first meeting."

"It's gonna be my only meeting." Yuffie muttered, darkly.

Chuck looked at Yuffie until she looked away. "I see." He said. He looked at Tasha. "Well, you know the drill. Here's the checklist. Lead her through it."

"You got it." Tasha said, taking the checklist and pen.

They sat down at a table, the three of them. Vincent sat to Yuffie's left, her weak side. Tasha sat across from her.

"Now, Yuffie, the point of this list (2) is to determine if you are, indeed, an addict." Tasha said, pleasantly. "I want you to be as honest with yourself as you can. You're probably going to see a lot of this list over the next few months; you might as well be truthful."

"If you're honest tonight, Shelke will sit outside the bathroom when you shower." Vincent said. Tasha smirked slightly. "Trust that we will know if you are lying." Vincent continued.

Yuffie frowned. She knew all too well that Vincent would know.

"Have you ever used alone?" Tasha asked.

Yuffie pondered. "No." She said. "Always with Reno." She winced, remembering that he was dead.

Tasha nodded. 

"Have you ever substituted one drug for another, thinking that one particular drug was the problem?"

"No." Yuffie said, shaking her head. "I've only smoked pot and done speed."

"Have you ever manipulated or lied to a doctor to obtain prescription drugs?"

A snort. "No. Prescription drugs are for wusses." Yuffie said.

"Have you ever stolen drugs or stolen to obtain drugs?" Tasha asked. Yuffie was silent for a long time before Vincent prodded her with one of his human fingers.

"I've stolen drugs." Yuffie said.

Tasha made a mark on the sheet.

"Okay. Do you regularly use a drug when you wake up or go to bed?"

Yuffie felt chills down her spine. "Um. I use speed when I wake up, and pot when I go to bed."

Another mark. "Do you avoid places or people that do not approve of you using drugs?"

"Of course." Another mark.

"Have you ever used a drug without knowing what it was or what it would do to you?"

"No." Yuffie said. Then she frowned. "Well, I mean, I don't know what speed is, actually, but I know what it does to me."

Tasha raised her eyebrow. "Half, then." A mark. She looked at the sheet. "Job or school performance...well, you don't have either of those, so we'll just cross through that." She did so. "Hmm. Have you ever been arrested as a result of drugs?"

Yuffie laughed outright. "Like any cop would dare arrest me."

"Huh. Alright. Have you ever lied about how much or what you use?"

Yuffie bit her lip. "I don't think so." She said.

"Financial responsibilities...Well, I think you've got money, right? So burning through it wouldn't be a huge deal, then."

"No. I've never run out of money." Yuffie said.

"Okay. Have you ever tried to stop or control your using?"

"No."

"Have you ever been to a jail, hospital, or rehabilitation center because of your using?"

Yuffie shivered. "Yes."

"Does using interfere with your eating or sleeping?"

"No." Yuffie said. "I eat when I'm hungry, I sleep when I'm tired."

"Okay, let me rephrase that." Tasha said. "How often are you hungry when you're strung out? How often are you sleepy?"

Yuffie narrowed her eyes at the girl. "Not often."

A mark. "Okay. Does the though of running out of drugs terrify you?"

Yuffie laughed. "No. I never run out of drugs."

"Oookay. Just pretend that everyone was out for a while. You couldn't get any, for whatever reason."

Yuffie raised her eyebrow and tried to imagine the scenario. "That's really, really unlikely."

"I know. Just tell me." Tasha said. She was trying to remain professional, Yuffie could tell, and she hated her for it.

"Uh, I guess so. I mean, it'd be really boring."

A mark. "Do you feel it is impossible to live without drugs?" Tasha asked her.

"Uh...well..." Yuffie floundered on that one. "No, I think I can stop. I mean, I've been without for two weeks, right? It's been so boring I wanna fucking cry, but..."

"No. If you were outside. If no one was watching you. Could you control it?"

"Of course I could control it! But why would I want to?" Yuffie held out her handcuffed wrists. "Life is boring and constrained when you're straight. At least with speed, you know, you can be free."

Tasha raised her eyebrow and marked the paper. Yuffie seethed.

"Do you ever question your own sanity?"

"Everyone does." Yuffie shrugged. "Look, does any of you have a cigarette?"

Tasha made a mark and gave her the cigarette, lighting it politely.

"Thanks." Yuffie said, exhaling. Vincent leaned away from her; not in disgust, but because he has enhanced smell, and cigarette smoke, despite long association with Cid Highwind, is overpoweringly strong to him.

Yuffie knew this. She still bristled at him.

"Have any of your friends been sent to the hospital or died because of drugs?" Tasha asked, quietly, knowing the answer.

"Yes." Yuffie ground out.

"Have you ever though you couldn't have a good time without drugs?"

"Of course I can't. It's so boring without speed." She glared at Vincent. "Some people can't keep their big noses out of everyone else's business."

"I kept my nose out of your business for a month before you overdosed, Yuffie." Vincent said quietly. The implication that Vincent had been keeping tabs on her for a month startled her, but she just glared at him and turned back to Tasha.

"Have you ever felt defensive, guilty or ashamed about your using?"

"Defensive? Yes, because you guys are assholes about it. Guilty or ashamed? No fucking way." Yuffie took another drag off the cigarette.

"Do you think a lot about drugs?"

"I didn't used to, until you guys took 'em away from me." Another glare at Vincent, who remained impassive.

"Have you had irrational or indefinable fears?"

Yuffie thought back. She clearly recalled hiding drugs throughout the apartment so there'd always be some even if Reno found part of her stash. She remembered looking over her shoulder furtively for any cops while out shopping. A cold sweat started.

"No." She said.

"Wrong." Vincent said. "No lies, Yuffie."

She hung her head. Of course, Vincent would be able to tell if she was lying. He was better than a polygraph.

"Has using affected your sexual relationships?" Tasha asked. Yuffie gaped at her. "What?" Tasha asked, innocently. "It's just a question."

"It's none of your damn business!" Yuffie spluttered.

"It's a yes or no question." Tasha said. "Let me tell you, you're talking to the one person on the Planet who doesn't give a damn who or what you've had sex with."

Yuffie blushed. "I didn't even start having sex until I started doing speed."

"Yes, then. Acting as a catalyst counts." Tasha made a mark. "Okay then...Have you ever taken drugs you didn't prefer?"

"No."

"Kay. Have you ever used drugs because of emotional pain or stress?"

Yuffie remembered Godo's head rolling across the stones of Wutai's streets. She looked at Vincent guiltily.

"Yes." She closed her eyes. "That's why I started."

"Mkay." Yet another mark. Yuffie's heart started to speed up. "Have you ever over...well, yes, you've overdosed, you can't hide that one from me." She noted that on the paper. "Do you continue to use despite negative consequences?"

"_What_ negative consequences?" Yuffie demanded. She made to stand up angrily but was blocked by Vincent's claw. "There weren't any negative consequences, you guys just came along and decided I need to fucking stop!"

"So an overdose doesn't count as a negative consequence, then?" Tasha asked, wryly.

"It was a once-off." Yuffie said. "Just cuz I shot up and I wasn't used to it!"

"I figured this'd happen." Tasha sighed. She reached into her bag. "Look, Yuffie. This is Reno's old Shinra file. Look."

She flipped to a page about Reno's drug history. Shinra didn't care, of course, if you did drugs, so long as it didn't interfere with your work; and Reno being a trained Turk, they were a little more liberal and lenient.

"Look, Yuffie. Really look. He had over twenty overdoses on different drugs throughout his life. Look at it. Look at the then and now pictures. Tell me there's not a consequence to using drugs."

Yuffie frowned. "That was Reno. This is me."

Tasha sighed and marked the paper twice. "Obviously, you don't think you have a drug problem. Let's see..." She started counting. "Eighteen and a half yes's out of 29 possible. That's well over half, Yuffie." She slid the paper to the girl. "This is yours."

"I don't want it." Yuffie said.

"Too bad." Tasha stood up. "The workshop part is over now anyway, let's go sit down at the wall."

**- - - - -**

Yuffie sat in her room, sullenly picking at the food Vincent had brought for her. The list lay on the wall; Tifa had shellacked it to the paint while she showered.

Obviously, everyone in the bar was out to get her. They couldn't even have the decency to tack it up so she could throw it away. No, it sat there, taunting her.

_Fuck this_, she thought to herself. She walked to the door and yanked it open.

And came face-to-face with Vincent Valentine's Death Penalty.

"Going somewhere?" Vincent asked, almost sounding amused.

"What the _fuck_, Valentine?" She screamed, slamming the door shut.

Oh God, she didn't want this.

_(1) This is an actual quote from a news story that was run here about a girl who was recovering from methamphetamine addiction._

_(2) This list is copyright Narcotics Anonymous. I'm not making money off this story, I'm just using the Program to further the plot. :) Don't sue, please!_

_**Author's Notes:**__ In case anyone didn't notice, I went back and formatted all of my chapters thus far in NeoOffice (I use a Mac – so this is the Mac version of OpenOffice). I don't like using NeoOffice, but I understand that hand-coding my stories in HTML probably doesn't work out the best for reading._

_And I really apologize for that list part. I know it was long but there's kind of a point to it. And that really is, as I said above, a real list that they use in NA. My dad and husband are both, like I said, recovering addicts, so I've seen that sheet a lot._

_Read? Review!_


	5. Forever Dead

**Diamonds and Guns**

_**Chapter Five – Forever Dead**_

_Sickness spilling through your eyes_

_Cravin' everything that you thought was alive, yeah_

_Stab me in my heart again, oh yeah_

_Drag me through your wasted life_

_Are you forever dead?_

-- Godsmack, "_Keep Away_"

Yuffie leaned against her door and smiled. It was a ghost of her former smile, but even if there had been a mirror near her (there wasn't, because mirrors broke into sharp pieces), she wouldn't have recognized the sickness in her gaunt face.

Good old well-meaning Reeve. He had guard duty and he'd fallen asleep. It was just the chance Yuffie was waiting for.

Carefully, she slipped her shoes off and set them to the side of the door. She fished the can of WD-40 she'd stolen from the supply closet downstairs from it's hiding place between the mattresses, and slowly ministered the hinges of the door. They'd been kept deliberately rusty, so they'd alert anyone to her escaping. She'd learned this the hard way last time.

She opened the door slowly, smiling at the quiet, smooth way it slid on it's hinges before closing it quietly and tiptoeing past the sleeping WRO leader.

The door to Final Heaven was locked. It was not proof against her years of petty thievery, and it clicked open quickly. She stifled a delighted giggle and stepped out into the cool night.

**- - - - - **

The first place Yuffie visited was an all-night bank to get cash, and then an all-night department store to get clothes – and shoes, since she'd sacrificed hers for stealth. Then she headed to the best place she knew to go: Midgar.

The old party crowd was there, and they welcomed her with open arms. The only people missing were Reno and Rude, and Yuffie was sure she'd never see Rude again, now that Reno was dead.

And really, she didn't care. She was free, and that was all that mattered.

**- - - - - **

"Oh, Reeve, how could you?" Tifa's sweet voice echoed through the hallway. Followed closely by the sound of Vincent's metal-gloved hand smashing into the wall.

Reeve hung his head sadly. "I'm really sorry, guys. I totally fucked up."

Vincent sighed and went downstairs. He could not blame the WRO leader for Yuffie's escape. For several reasons. First, HE had pledged to protect Yuffie, not Reeve. Second, if Yuffie wanted to escape, she was going to escape. She was ninja, after all.

He supposed he couldn't help it. He'd become lax. His view of Yuffie was not one of a drug-addicted adult; it was of a hyperactive, friendly teenager. He'd underestimated her. Perhaps too much.

He wondered if it was something everyone who dealt with drug addicts went through. He could remember the good Yuffie, the girl who was unafraid of him and his inner demons when everyone else in AVALANCHE would tremble in fear after he transformed. The girl who would bring him supper when he was sulking away from the campfire while everyone else shared a sense of camraderie.

Because of his lapse, his underestimation, Yuffie was going to continue what she did, and she was going to die.

And that simply was not an option. She'd saved him countless times; he owed it to her to return the favor.

**- - - - - **

"I told you it wouldn't be easy." Tasha's voice echoed off the walls of the Shera. Only her voice, for one could only see her if they craned their neck upwards. She was in the rafters, legs wrapped around a beam, soldering some wires. Vincent suspected she was supposed to be wearing a harness to keep her up there, and that if Cid walked in, the man would have a fit. Cid was nothing if not safety-conscious about his crew.

"Vincent, you have to wait until Yuffie hits rock bottom." Tasha's voice said, again. Vincent looked up, and there was a look of intense concentration on her face. "If ODing didn't snap her back to reality, I'm not sure what will. Sometimes it takes waking up in the gutter to realize there's something wrong in your life."

"That will never happen to Yuffie." Vincent said. "She has plenty of money."

"She'll get clean eventually, Vincent, or die trying." Tasha assured him.

"That's what I'm afraid of." Vincent said, allowing concern to leak into his voice.

"That's something you're going to have to accept." Tasha finished what she was doing, and jumped out of the rafters. "You can't force someone to get clean. You can just be there for them if they decide they do." Tasha sighed, and unplugged the soldering iron. "I had kind of hoped that this would be a wake-up call to your friend. But it wasn't. Sometimes, it just takes tough love."

"Is there no hope?" Vincent sounded disappointed, even to himself.

"There's always hope, Vincent." Tasha said. She smiled. "I'll prove it. Be at Tifa's tonight."

**- - - - - **

Vincent sat at the bar. Depression filled the air. This was a normal thing as far as Vincent's presence went, but tonight it was downright palpable. Yuffie's escape had affected the gunslinger far more than anything anyone in AVALANCHE had seen up to this point.

Suddenly there was a small commotion at the doorway, and a crowd of people walked into the empty bar. Tasha was at the front of them. She sat at the bar and politely asked for a Coke.

The other people sat at the bar as well. The man next to Tasha ordered a Coke as well, and other orders were placed. They all had one thing in common – no one ordered anything with alcohol in it.

"Vincent, this is my husband, Ken." Tasha introduced the two of them. Then she pointed to the man next to Ken. "My dad, Ron." She continued introducing the people ranged along the bar to the gunslinger.

Vincent stared at her, implacably.

"I told you there was always hope." Tasha said, smirking. "Every single one of these people hit rock bottom and got clean. They're all friends and family of mine."

Vincent regarded the group. There were at least ten people there with her. She'd had that many people she'd had to suffer through in her life. Not only were they all clean now, but Tasha had also made it through.

"I've got five years clean." Ken said, nodding. "It's hard, but you deal."

"My dad got hit double-hard." Tasha said, pointing to the man, who was involved in an in-depth discussion with the person next to him, and nursing a Coke. "He did meth and he was also an alcoholic. He kicked both of 'em." She grinned. "He's a stubborn bastard, too, so if he could do it, so could Yuffie – when she gets there."

"There's a saying in the program." Ken said, suddenly. "Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can – and the wisdom to know the difference. That last part's the kicker."

A slight smile came across Vincent's face. "I suppose it would be."

"That's the point. You can't change Yuffie, Vincent." Tasha shook her head. "Only Yuffie can do that. What you CAN do is keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn't almost die again. Her heart's still weak. She's had enough time to heal that as long as she doesn't start slamming it again, she should be okay. But there's no guarantees with the human body. You can also make sure she knows that her little escaping act doesn't mean she can never come here again if she wants to get clean."

Vincent snorted. Despite Tasha's assurances, he still had little faith in Yuffie's ability to comprehend what she was doing to herself. He was not a betting man, but if he were, he'd put money on her never gracing Tifa's doorstep again.

"But enough of that. It's Thursday, and none of us have to work tomorrow." Tasha turned to Tifa, who was slightly overwhelmed at having been suddenly innundated by people who didn't drink alcohol. "What's on the menu, Tifa? We're starving."

**- - - - - **

Despite his reservations, Vincent did wind up having a decent time. Tasha seemed to have vaguely explained what was going on, so they had an impromptu Alcoholics Anonymous-style meeting. Seeing as there wasn't anyone else coming in, Tifa gladly catered the event, shutting the doors to incoming traffic. She made more money from her food than drinks anyway. The vague irony, and definite amusement factor, aof an AA meeting being held at a bar was not lost on Vincent.

Each person briefly went up and talked about how they'd gotten into drugs, and how they'd gotten clean. Each of them called it the same thing - "rock bottom."

"Rock bottom is waking up in a gutter." Tasha's dad said. "Rock bottom is stealing to support your habit. Rock bottom is realizing that your friends and family hate you for what you've become. Every recovering addict goes through rock bottom before they can get sober. Rock bottom is different for everyone, but everyone goes through it. You need to know how bad it can get before you can change yourself."

Some people had actually been in a good lot in life when they realized they had a problem. One man was a manager for Shinra, and was making a lot of money and had a really nice house on the plate in Midgar. Then he came home and he realized that his wife had left him, his children had disowned him, and all of his friends had started seeking companionship elsewhere.

By the end of the night, he was reassured that eventually, Yuffie would see the light.

Hopefully, it would be soon.

**- - - - - **

_Approximately one month later_

It was the middle of summer in Gongaga. Vincent wearily trudged onward.

He had all but given up on Yuffie for the moment. Two weeks previous, he had bid Tifa and Cloud farewell after the birth of their daughter, Aerith, and headed out as he always did, without any plan of action.

He wound up in Gongaga, fighting gnats and bugs the size of Barret, as well as a humid tropical heat and general annoyance. He prayed to whatever deity might exist that he would get to town before the sun set – otherwise he'd have to camp out in this godforsaken forest, _again_.

The idea was not a pleasant one, and Vincent trudged on, angrily slashing through vines and monsters alike.

He was seriously beginning to regret having turned left at the Gold Saucer.

When he finally stumbled into the sleepy little town at about seven that night, there was no more space left at the Inn.

"Some sort of party going on at the reactor." The innkeeper said, apologetically. "Look, son, I can let you use my shower, but I'm afraid I have nowhere for you to sleep tonight."

A small smirk appeared on the gunman's face. "I need it that badly?"

The innkeeper's friendly smile turned into a grimace. "I'm afraid so."

Well, a shower was better than nothing, and Vincent gratefully accepted the innkeeper's hospitality. Afterward, he changed into his spare set of clothing and asked the man where he could possibly wash his gear.

"Most of us just do it in the river near the reactor." The innkeeper said, shrugging. "Water runs pretty clear, and you can get a cake of soap from the shop for about three gil."

Vincent nodded and thanked the man, leaving him 20 gil for his kindness, despite the fact that the man had not asked for it.

He slung his pack around his shoulder. After purchasing the soap, which was the standard cloth-cleaning variety, he carefully headed toward the reactor, managing to avoid monsters in the process.

As a child, young Vincent Valentine had often done chores with his mother, Shizuko. One of those chores was washing the clothes. This was well before Mako power had been invented; in fact, electricity was a luxury only the rich had, and it was water-powered at that point in time. So Vincent was well-versed in how to wash clothing by hand.

Finding a conveniently ridged rock near the edge of the water, which he assumed most of the townspeople used for the same purpose he was about to, Vincent settled down to the business of forcing the rough suds through his clothes, and then weighted them down with some rocks to rinse clean while he hunted some forked sticks and branches to make a makeshift clothesline. A few yards away, downwind of his drying clothes, Vincent started a small fire and heated up the cold meal he'd purchased from the shopkeeper's daughter. It wasn't Tifa's food, but it was a delicious change from the travel rations he'd been eating recently.

Really, he didn't need the inn. He had a perfectly good tent; he pondered setting up his tent, and then thought maybe he should ask the innkeeper if there was a designated area for things like that. Perhaps he'd do that after his clothes dried; and perhaps he'd pick up a bottle of wine while he was at it. Relaxing for the evening was starting to sound mighty good.

As the sun started to sink below the leafy horizon surrounding Gongaga, Vincent heard the boom-booming that he associated with the techno music at the party at Midgar, and looked up in surprise. Of course, he'd heard the innkeeper say that there was a party there tonight, but he had not known it was that kind of party.

He was of half a mind, of course, to simply set up camp and ignore it. He was through dealing with that crowd; he had no obligation to Yuffie Kisaragi, and really, there wasn't even a guarantee that she'd be there.

He checked his clothes; they were dry and cool, and smelled fresh. He packed them into his pack and slung it to his shoulder, carefully gathering up his garbage from supper and heading back toward the town, fully intending to ask the innkeeper where he could pitch his tent.

However, once he'd deposited his garbage into a can designed for that purpose, and walked into the inn, the first words out of his mouth were not where the local campground was, but instead, "Do you rent lockers for belongings?"

The man frowned. "Can't say that I do, but if you wanna stash your things here you're welcome to."

Vincent handed the man another twenty and set his pack down behind the door, out of the way. "I will be back later tonight to reclaim them. Please make sure no one digs through them."

The man nodded, seemingly confused, as Vincent walked out the door.

**- - - - - **

Vincent was trying very hard not to think why he'd left his things at the inn and was walking, slowly but surely, toward the now noisy and overgrown party. Just as he'd convinced himself that it was to see if Shera and Cid were there, a familiar face popped into view.

Rufus Shinra.

"Vincent!" The former president looked surprised to see the older man. "What are you doing here?"

Vincent eyed Rufus. "I suppose I could ask you the same." He intoned. Rufus chuckled.

"Word about this rave has been circulating for at least a week. Everyone who's anyone decided to come. I think I saw Reeve back there a few minutes ago, and I know Scarlet's wandering around."

"I've been walking through a jungle for the past week." Vincent said, as if to explain why he was unaware of the party's origins.

"Well, hey, you made it anyway." Rufus grinned. "It's weird, though, you never really struck me as the party type of person."

"I never did, either." Vincent replied, wryly. "You said you saw Reeve? Did you happen to see Cid?"

"Uh...no, now that I think about it, I haven't. But I haven't been looking, either." Rufus pointed. "Reeve's over there; he may have seen Cid." Rufus nodded to the gunslinger and walked toward someone who was calling his name. "Have fun, Vincent!"

Vincent shook his head and headed toward Reeve.

"Vincent!" Reeve said, nervously. He still was uncomfortable around Vincent, ever since he'd fallen asleep and let Yuffie escape. Vincent, for his part, didn't seem to hold any ill will against Reeve.

"Reeve." Vincent nodded at him. Reeve gulped, slightly, and smiled.

"That makes the whole crew, really." Reeve said, smiling. "Barret's watching Aerith, so Cloud and Tifa are here, and so are Cid and Shera. Shelke and Nanaki are here with them." He nodded to Vincent. "We've got a table all to ourselves, if you want."

Oddly enough, the idea of socializing with his friends from AVALANCHE didn't sound so bad. He let a small smile come across his face as he accepted Reeve's offer.

He walked up to the table with Reeve, enduring Reeve's proclamation of "Look at who I found!" And a back-slapping from Cid that hurt more than he wanted to. While everyone was surprised to see him here, all were glad of the chance to see him, worried as they were after his sudden departure two weeks previously.

As he sat down he noticed three empty seats across from him. Reeve sat in one.

"Who's missing?" He asked, gesturing to the chairs.

"Tasha and her husband are out dancing." Tifa said, pointing to the mass of bodies. "They'll be back soon, I think."

A fairly convivial time was had by all. About an hour later, Tasha and a very breathless Ken showed up, Tasha exclaiming happily at Vincent's sudden appearance – apparently, she'd expressed worry to Cid about Vincent's mental well-being.

"I thank you for your concern, Tasha, but my mental health is as it has always been." Vincent said, politely.

Cloud made a big show of sliding away from Vincent nervously, and everyone, even Vincent, laughed.

At one point Rufus found his way to the group and spent some time there before heading off again. According to Shelke, ever observant of the world around her, he was quite the social butterfly these days. He readily paid tabs and bought rounds; he really did seem as if he was trying to make up for everything that had happened before. Vincent felt a vague sort of concern for the younger man, in that he knew that the people Rufus was busy flattering weren't his friends and would some day betray him, but he felt it best to keep silent.

"Did you manage to get a room at the inn, Vincent?" Tifa asked, worriedly, later that night.

"Hey, I've got a spare room on the Shera if you didn't, Vince." Cid butted in.

"I have my tent. I will be fine." Vincent said, politely.

"No way, man, you can crash on the Shera!" Cid said. He was far more drunk that Vincent was used to seeing, and was gesticulating in such a manner that Vincent was rather worried he'd clout his wife in the head.

Tifa laughed at the look on Vincent's face. "I think Cloud and I will take the room on the Shera, Cid." She giggled. "I think you're going to need my special hangover drink tomorrow morning. Vincent, you can take me and Cloud's room." She slid over a key with the number "12" etched into the top. "I'll let the innkeeper know before we go to bed."

Vincent thanked her.

Later that night, when the group decided to split up and go their separate ways, Tifa led Vincent and a rather intoxicated Cloud to the inn, where she informed the innkeeper of the switch, before leading Cloud to the Shera's docking area, just outside the city limits.

"You've got some good friends, there." The innkeeper said, nodding and smiling. He apparently didn't recognize the trio, and Vincent liked to keep it that way. He picked up his pack and headed toward the stairs.

"By the way, you got a young couple next to you. They came in pretty...messed up on something. If they bother you, let me know." The innkeeper said, looking upset at having rented to such riffraff.

Vincent nodded and continued on to room 12. Indeed, loud noises were coming out of room 11, but Vincent was used to sleeping near noise and he doubted they'd bother him.

He was wrong.

**- - - - - **

"You gonna put out, bitch, or what?" The angrily shouted phrase awoke Vincent from a sound sleep.

"Fuck off, Jake!" An angry female voice responded. If Vincent had not gotten into an altercation with a certain young ninja several years ago about who got to ride on the gold chocobo ("Yuffie. You will become ill, and scare the bird off. It makes sense to let someone who does not succumb to motion sickness ride the bird." "Fuck you, Vinnie!") he probably would not have recognized the voice for who it was.

"The deal was..."

"The deal was for NOTHING, Jake!" Yuffie responded to the invisible Jake. "I never said I'd fuck you for drugs! I'm not a fucking whore! I got money, and that's what you'll get!"

"That's not what I want!" Jake responded. There were some loud thumping noises that made Vincent rise to his feet swiftly, disregarding the fact that he was wearing nothing but boxers. Grabbing Death Penalty from his nightstand, he made his way to room 11, where he tried the knob. Locked.

"Let go of me!" Yuffie's voice sounded alarmed now, and the sounds of a struggle became more apparent. "Someone, help me!"

"Shut up!" A wet smacking sound, and Vincent had heard enough.

Bracing himself, he launched his body at the door and sent it flying open. Jake, a young male with a pink mowhawk, had Yuffie pinned to the bed and was in the process of removing her skirt while holding her down by the mouth. Muffled screams were coming out of her mouth.

Jake turned toward the racket and came face-to-face with the barrel of Death Penalty.

"I suggest you let the young lady go." Vincent deadpanned.

"Mnnnnnie!" A muffled, but happy, cry came from Yuffie. At Jake's moment of indecision, she reached up with her leg and clobbered him in the head with her foot.

"Ow! Fucking bitch!" Jake screamed. A commotion was heard from the end of the hall, and Vincent grabbed Yuffie by the wrist and dragged her from the room and into his.

He closed the door all but an inch while the innkeeper discovered the open door and a very intoxicated minor. He listened quietly while the police were called and Jake was arrested, and a fine placed on him for the ruined door.

Suddenly there was a knock on his door, and he reluctantly opened it all the way to face the innkeeper.

"I can pay for the door." Vincent blurted out.

"Don't worry about it." The innkeeper said. "I saw the whole thing, and that was payment enough." His face turned polite. "How is the girl?"

Vincent turned and glanced into the room. Yuffie was passed out on the spare bed in a less than decorous position. "As well as can be expected. She's...a friend of mine. I will tend to her."

The innkeeper nodded. "Just keep her quiet. That little argument woke up half the floor."

Vincent accepted that responsibility gravely. Watching the man walk away, he reminded himself to leave an extra large tip for the man, for the cost of the door.

He closed his door and turned to face Yuffie, still sound asleep, spread-eagled on the spare bed. Sighing, he picked up his black button-up shirt, kissing it goodbye, and wrapped it around her. Politely averting his face, he removed her clothing (she was wearing no underwear or bra, so while he didn't have to experience the embarassment of handling them, he did have to maneuver very oddly to keep her private areas blocked from his view while he handled this manner) and set them soaking in the bathroom sink. He buttoned up his shirt and tucked her in, and then rolled back into his bed, shutting off the lamp and sighing.

What a night.

**- - - - - **

When Vincent woke up the next morning, Yuffie was still asleep. Quietly, he packed his things and set his pack on the dresser, before heading to town and getting two warm breakfasts from the shopkeeper's daughter, who oggled at him shirtless. One thing he remembered from Tasha's instructions was that Yuffie should always eat; she may gain weight, but her body needed the nutrition.

On the way back, he stopped into room 11 and picked up Yuffie's purse and backpack. While he didn't like to pry, he did rifle through and make sure there were no drugs in them before he took them into his room. To his surprise, the list she'd filled out with him and Tasha two months previously was tucked into a pocket in her purse, well-worn.

He set her bags on the desk, and one of the breakfasts, before eating his own. He removed his normal clothing from his pack and took a shower.

As he was toweling his hair dry, Yuffie stirred and woke. She looked up at him blearily and then looked around her, obviously taking in the surroundings. She caught sight of her clothes, clean and dry, arranged on the desk, next to her things and the breakfast tray, and then looked back at Vincent, wet-haired and shirtless.

Her first conclusion was obvious, and Vincent rolled his eyes and continued towelling his hair. Yuffie obviously came to the conclusion that Vincent was way too much of a gentleman to have taken advantage of her in her sleep, when he'd just rescued her from a similar situation. Then the confusion was evident on her face.

"Not everyone only wants sex from you, Yuffie." Vincent said, frowning as he handed her the breakfast plate, covered with an insulated dome to keep it warm.

She pouted as she ate her breakfast. "Back to Tifa's?" She sounded resigned.

Vincent shook his head and shrugged into his shirt. Picking up a hairbrush, which was mostly just a ritual left over from his childhood as his hair was much too unruly to tame, he began to brush his thick mane of hair. "I cannot force you to stop using drugs, Yuffie. You have proved that much to me. When you decide you want to stop, you can call me. You have my number."

She set her plate down. "What if I never want to stop?" Her voice was sing-song; she was taunting him.

"Then you never want to stop, and you die." Vincent set the brush down and pulled his hair back with the band he normally wore there. He then fastened his cloak about his shoulders. "I will be at your funeral."

"That's it? You're not going to try at all?" Yuffie demanded.

"Why should I?" Vincent turned toward her. "I refuse to play games with you, Yuffie Kisaragi. You are not a little girl anymore. When you decide to stop acting like one, I will start caring."

With that, he picked up his pack and walked out the door.

**- - - - - **

"Yo, Vince!" Cid's voice echoed through the clearing, and Vincent looked up. There was the Shera.

"Need a ride anywhere?" Cid asked. He was obviously feeling quite well; Tifa's hangover medicine worked wonders, according to all who had ever needed it. Vincent had never availed himself of it, but he thought that tomorrow morning, he just may.

"Where are you heading?" Vincent called up.

"Corel, to drop Tifa and Cloud off, and then to Mideel."

"I'll go to Corel, then." Vincent said. Cid landed the Shera and Vincent climbed into her hold.

"You look like hell, Vince, which is saying something, cuz you look like you've taken a shower." Cid said. He'd appeared in the hold while Vincent was walking aboard.

"I heard there was a bit of a commotion at the inn last night." Tifa said, appearing behind the pilot. A look of concern graced her pretty features. "Are you okay?"

Vincent sighed and ran his human hand down his face. "I am fine."

"What happened?" The trio was now walking toward the meeting room, which was apparently where the group was planning on hanging out during the simple voyage to Corel, only a few hours away, which Cid had left in the capable hands of his apprentice.

"I do not want to tell the story twice. I will wait until everyone is together." Vincent's voice sounded almost pained.

They walked into the conference room and Vincent was bombarded with questions – apparently, Tifa was not the only one who had heard of the ruckus he'd caused last night.

Briefly, he explained what had happened and how he'd wound up rescuing Yuffie yet again. Then he even more briefly, in short, choppy sentences, described what had happened this morning.

"Wow, you really took that tough love thing seriously, didn't you?" Tasha said, eyes wide. "Don't get me wrong, it was the right thing to do, but damn. That's harsh."

"Hey, leave off Vincent." Tifa said, defensively. "He obviously feels horrible at having done it."

"Dunno how you can tell." Cid said, flicking ashes off his cigarette.

That comment sent the entire hold into arguments about whether or not Vincent had been too hard on Yuffie. Vincent sat there silently, listening to everything everyone said. He knew he'd done right.

That didn't change the fact that it was the single most painful thing he'd ever had to force himself to do, down to letting Lucrecia go into Hojo's arms instead of his.

He wondered if he was going to regret his words. Then he wondered if he would really be able to go to Yuffie's funeral, like he'd said he would.

He really hoped that day didn't come.

**- - - - - **

_Author's notes: Wow, that took forever to write! I like how it came out, though. I'm on a roll now; when you're up at 4 a.m. doing laundry, this is a good thing to occupy your time. Sometimes, inspiration comes from the oddest places._

_Read? Review!_


	6. Saving Me

**Diamonds and Guns**

_**Chapter Six – Saving Me**_

_Show me what it's like  
(To be the last one standing)  
And teach me wrong from right  
(And I'll show you what I can be)  
And say it for me, say it to me  
And I'll leave this life behind me  
Say it if it's worth savin' me_

-- Nickelback, "_Savin' Me_"

Yuffie had hightailed it out of the inn as soon as possible. The innkeeper shot her a knowing look as she hurriedly left the room.

Outside, she scanned the area for Vincent, equally happy and disappointed that he was nowhere to be found. His distinctive pointed bootprints led out of town to the north, so she headed south, which was the shortest way out of the jungles surrounding Gongaga anyway.

On the way out of town, she scored a sack of bud and a small baggie of tweak, stashing those in her backpack.

For reasons she couldn't quite explain, she wanted out of Gongaga, and she wanted to be away from human beings. They made her think about things she didn't want to think about.

Of course, being alone makes one think, too. But that didn't occur to the former shinobi; no, she just wanted out, now. It was pure flight or fight syndrome, and she was too strung out to fight at this point in time.

Once she was out of the city limits, she sat down and dragged out the baggie of weed, expertly rolling a joint and lighting it. The sweet, cloying scent filled her nostrils and made her calm down.

She pushed back the vision of Vincent, looking at her so disappointed. It was automatically replaced with one of Vincent, clad only in black boxers, pointing a gun at that asshole Jake and demanding that he let her go.

_Heh. Some night in shining armor._ Yuffie thought, although the boxers had been kind of shiny, so it kind of fit. What kind of serendipity had led to Vincent being given the room next door to hers? He couldn't have possibly arranged it. She knew for a fact that he hadn't been following her since she left; she'd been paying attention.

Finally, she stowed her stash and finished her quest to get out of the jungle. Vincent didn't know Gongaga very well, or he'd have entered from the south; it took a mere day to get to the town from the south, whereas from the north it could take several weeks.

Gasping for breath, she ran out of the forest and collapsed onto the ground, alternately crying and laughing. She didn't know what was wrong with her, really.

Yuffie curled up where she fell and went to sleep. When she woke up, she had hit rock bottom.

**- - - - - **

Rock bottom, apparently, for Yuffie, was waking up and finding three frogs getting ready to cast some sort of horrifying spell on her.

"Aye!" She yelped, waking up and going into defense mode. Quickly dispatching the toads, she sank to the grass and looked around her.

She had no idea where she was. Somewhere around Gongaga, but it could be anywhere. She dug through her pack and was frustrated to find that she had no food or supplies; in fact, all she had were her clothes and her dope.

"That's fine. I'll just go back to town and buy some stuff." Yuffie said, confidently. She looked around her. There was a forest.

And to her left was another. And her right, another. She had no idea which one led to Gongaga town. She had no idea which day it was.

And suddenly, she was immeasurably frightened. Because she'd gotten high in the forest, she had no clue where she was. And she was going to die for it.

_"Then you never want to stop, and you die." _Vincent's face wavered in front of hers. _"I will be at your funeral."_

Yuffie choked back tears. She thought that when Vincent talked about her funeral, it'd be at the very least, several years off, if not when she was ancient and old. She didn't realize he was talking about now.

And then another thought struck her. What if they didn't find her for _years_? What if she was decomposed? Then yes, her funeral would be in several years. Then again, there was a good chance some of the monsters around here would eat her remains, first, so maybe they'd never find her, and they'd just declare her dead and go on with their lives.

She was Yuffie Kisaragi, dammit! She couldn't just die in obscurity?

A ray of hope – her PHS. She dug through her purse, hoping she hadn't left it somewhere, and gave a delighted cry as she found it. She could call someone – maybe the police in Gongaga could tell her where she was.

She opened the phone, and was startled to see a note drop out of it. In Vincent's elegant handwriting were the words "When you grow up." and his PHS number, in case she'd forgotten it. She hadn't. In fact, it was still in her PHS. Vincent alone out of all of the members of AVALANCHE had a space in her phone book. She wasn't sure why.

She snorted and made to crumple the paper up when something else fell out of her purse – the much worn paper from that NA meeting Vincent had escorted her to.

The phrase "Are you an addict?" caught her eye and she slumped to the ground, fingering the checklist. She wasn't sure why she'd kept it, but when she was at her worst moments, it reminded her of Vincent. That there was still one person who cared.

And he didn't care anymore. He'd even said so. _"You are not a little girl anymore. When you decide to stop acting like one, I will start caring."_

Tears pricked her eyes and she held them back, stubbornly. There was nothing wrong with her; Vincent was the one who needed to grow up. She could stop doing drugs whenever she wanted; they weren't a problem from her, didn't he see it?

Didn't _she_ see it? How could she honestly tell herself that drugs weren't a problem? She was stranded in the middle of nowhere, with no idea of where to go, no food, shelter, or water nearby, no weapons, and a shitload of monsters probably closing in on her as she sat there moping. All because of drugs.

_Oh my God, they were right._ Yuffie closed her eyes tight. _Oh God. Ohhh God._ She clasped the checklist to her, knowing that almost all of them applied to her, and cried. Big, huge, heart-wrenching sobs. She was an addict, and on top of it, she was thoroughly _fucked_.

The last 24 hours had been hell. She'd almost been raped and then had been rescued by the most attractive version of Vincent she'd ever seen. Then she practically accused him of raping her and taunted him for helping her. Then she stumbled out of town with no supplies and got herself lost in the middle of nowhere.

And now she had no PHS reception. She hit her phone, still sobbing, wiling it to work. Glancing around, she spotted a familiar antenna-looking apparatus in the distance. She hiccuped, then gathered her things and headed toward the tower resolutely, still crying.

She really hoped it was a reception tower and not something else. Because this was her last chance.

She'd hit rock bottom.

**- - - - - **

Vincent was awoken very rudely by his PHS ringing. For the first time in his life, he had a hangover, and he really resented this intrusion into his blissful, painless sleep.

He cracked open an eye and looked up. Sunlight nearly blinded him and sent him into a fit of rage so intense that had Chaos still been a part of him, the demon would have also been rudely awoken.

Alas, Chaos and Vincent had parted ways a few years ago, and now Vincent was forced to deal with the splitting headache and intense thirst, as well as the annoyance of his phone ringing.

It was an unfamiliar number calling him. Swearing, he reached for the phone and flopped back on the bed, flipping the device open. If it was a telemarketer, he was going to sue someone.

Or kill them, whichever made them leave him alone more.

"WHAT?" He snarled into the phone.

"V...v...Vinnie?" A scared voice whispered on the other end. Even in his hungover haze, Vincent could recognize that it was Yuffie on the other side of the line. Only one person in the world called him "Vinnie" and got away with it.

"Yuffie?" His voice was instantly lowered.

"Vinnie?" A crackle of static. "Reception sucks here. Vinnie, I'm in trouble."

Vincent sighed. "I don't have any bail money for you, Yuffie." He rolled away from the window and groaned.

A sharp intake of breath. She said nothing.

"What's wrong, Yuffie?" Vincent asked, willing his body to cooperate in sitting up. Finally he achieved his goal.

"I...I'm lost." Yuffie said, quickly, as if she thought he'd hang up on her. "I don't know where I am, and I'm really scared. I didn't get any of my supplies yesterday and..." She sounded embarrassed. "Well, I'm attracting monsters."

"You don't have food?" Vincent said, stupidly.

"Uh...well, no, I don't have any food or water." Yuffie's abashed sound increased. "But that's not the supplies I'm talking about. Uhm...I'm bleeding, and it's attracting monsters." Now her voice changed back to panicked. "I'm really scared, Vinnie!"

Vincent was of half a mind to hang up the phone, if only out of irritation from being woken up, but the small, sane part of him begged him not to, to listen to her, and that part won.

Then it snapped in his mind. Yuffie had her period, and the monsters were honing in on the smell of blood.

He hit his forehead and groaned.

A loud scream came over the phone and then the line went dead.

Frantically, Vincent redialed the number and got Yuffie's voice mail. Wincing, he hurriedly dressed himself and ran downstairs.

Tifa was in Barret's living room, preparing her daughter to ride the chocobo to Costa del Sol, where the family was going to finish up their vacation.

"Tifa," and at the loudness of his voice, Vincent winced. "We have a problem."

Tifa glanced in his direction.

"Yuffie just called me." Vincent said. He coughed, wondering how to bring it up correctly.

"She did?" Tifa's eyes widened.

"She is stranded somewhere, has no idea where she is, and is...attracting monsters." Vincent floundered and blushed.

"Attracting monsters?" Tifa was plainly confused.

Vincent coughed and looked toward the door.

"Oh. OH!" Tifa's eyes widened and her hands went to her mouth. "Oh dear!"

"Is Cid still in town?"

"I'm not sure. I'll call him right now." Tifa said, propping Aerith on her hip and rummaging through her purse with her other hand.

By this time, the rest of the group had gathered around Vincent and was demanding answers. He tried to fend them off and was listening intently to Tifa's conversation with Cid. She was apparently convincing him to turn back around and was trying to explain why, which, in any other situation, would have been comical.

That mission accomplished, the entire household was thrown into a fury. Cloud was determined to get a group together, but Vincent held out his hand.

"The less people, the better. Yuffie is embarrassed, and will not take asking for help lightly. I do not want this to make her turn back to drugs." Vincent said.

For her part, Tasha agreed, when Cid showed up.

"Good idea. We'll just make ourselves scarce." She said, smiling. "I'm for the gun turrets, myself." She headed in that direction.

In the control room, Vincent used his considerable skills with the computer (he was a former Turk, after all) to hack into the Shinra Communications network and locate Yuffie's cell phone. It was near a reception tower between Gongaga and Cosmo Canyon; almost on top of the Ancient Forest.

"I can get us there in thirty minutes at full speed." Cid said. He pushed the "emergency" button on the Shera's control panel and flipping on the intercom. "Everyone batten down the damn hatches, this baby's gonna fly, and fast!"

**- - - - - **

Tasha and Shera could see the entire scene from their positions in the gun turrets, where they'd gone to shoot away any monsters that may be attacking Yuffie.

The shinobi was sprawled out over the ground, pathetically. A familiar black button-down shirt was ripped and almost off her entirely. Her skirt was in place, but she'd lost one of her shoes. She was bleeding profusely, but from what they could see, she was alive.

Before they had a chance to shoot any of the monsters, Vincent had already dispatched them with Death Penalty. The gunman ran toward the ninja, almost frantically for him, and kneeled next to her. With a tenderness neither woman had ever seen Vincent display before, he took his cloak off and wrapped her in it, then gently picked her up and carried her back toward the Shera.

"I guess that's my queue." Tasha said, picking up her medical kit and rushing towards sick bay.

**- - - - - **

"She's going to make it." Tasha's voice was saying. "I had to use a Soft on her, too, because both of her arms had been Petrified. There was also Touch Me slime in the gouges on her legs; the stuff is insidious, but I managed to get it all out. She's all better now, after a few Cure spells. We just have to wait for her to wake up."

"'m awake." Yuffie muttered. She opened her eyes a crack.

"Oh, good." Tasha said. There was none of the false cheer in her voice that so many doctors affected, and Yuffie was glad of it. She didn't look Yuffie in the eye or say anything, but she did slide a pack of tampons into Yuffie's hand subtly, blocking Vincent's view of it, before nodding at the ninja and leaving the room.

Yuffie flushed.

Vincent was staring at her in a way that made her very uncomfortable. Then he turned and left the room.

So Vinnie gave a shit after all.

Wincing, for she was still sore, Yuffie climbed out of the bed and headed toward the cubicle marked as the bathroom. Her pack and purse were rough for wear, but they were both there, near the door. She glanced around and brought both into the bathroom with her.

First, she took care of her feminine problem. Then she took out her pot and weed.

She stared at the baggies for a long time before she opened them. Just as she started emptying the contents of them into the toilet, the door opened and Vincent stormed in.

"Vincent!" She screeched. "This is a BATHROOM. You don't just walk in on a person!"

Vincent went to grab the baggies from her when his eyes focused on the powder and leaves floating on the surface of the toilet water. He stopped in his tracks and his hand went down.

"I apologize, Yuffie." He said, gruffly.

She glared at him. "Even if I was gonna do the drugs, you shouldn't go around walking in on someone in the bathroom. What if I'd just been pooping?"

His eyes bugged out and she laughed outright at the dignified Vincent flushing.

"Get out, Vincent." She said, her shoulders slumped, tiredly. "Just...leave."

Vincent frowned. He turned on his heel and left, and she could tell she'd hurt his feelings.

But this was something she wanted to do in private. Her own private goodbye to a life that was no longer hers.

**- - - - - **

"She seriously flushed all of it?" Tasha asked. She, Shera, Cid and Vincent were eating in the Shera's mess hall.

"To the best of my knowledge. She'd emptied both bags into the toilet when I walked in, so I have to assume that, unless there's some bizarre method of ingesting drugs using the toilet."

"Actually, there is." Yuffie said, sitting down at the group with a tray of food. "It's called a gravity bong, and you can use a toilet or a bathtub. But you don't put the stuff _in_ the water."

Vincent frowned and hunched over his food.

Tasha looked at Vincent, and then looked at Yuffie, who was pointedly ignoring the group and eating her food, then back at Vincent. She then looked at Shera with a quizzical look on her face. Shera mouthed "Lovers quarrel?" with an amused look on her face.

Yuffie snorted, but didn't say anything. She'd obviously caught the by-play between the two other women.

Cid, for his part, was oblivious. He was eating his meat loaf with gusto and was blissfully unaware of the silent tension currently surrounding the table.

"So, Vincent." Tasha said, leaning over. "Tifa left Ken and I in charge of Final Heaven while she's out of town. We have to go back to Kalm. Do you want to come with us? Ken says you make a good bouncer for the AA meetings."

"That would be...acceptable." Vincent muttered.

"Everyone thinks it's hilarious that the AA meetings are being held in a bar now. It's a good test of strength, though."

"Putting yourself in the path of temptation, or something like that?" Shera asked.

"Something like that." Tasha sounded amused. "It's something like the chronic overeater going to Dunkin' Donuts to prove to themselves that they can handle it. Most of them can."

"Where you going to, Yuffie?" Cid asked. He looked up and suddenly became aware of the body language going on between the other four occupants of his table. "Err..."

"I guess...I'm going wherever Vincent's going." Yuffie said, quietly.

"Oh good. Can you cook?" Tasha asked her. "I'm not really sure how Tifa manages to keep all of the sobers fed, and I'm gonna need all of the help I can get."

"I know how to make sushi." Yuffie said, sounding confused.

"Oh, hey, that's great!" Tasha said. "We'll do Wutain for the next meeting."

And with that, Tasha not-so-subtly managed to get Yuffie to willingly attend an AA meeting.

**- - - - - **

Jasmine tea and sliced sushi rolls were set out, as well as pots of coffee. Yuffie had gotten far more into the sushi-catering process than she thought she would, and had even gone so far as to arrange the rolls onto little plates that Tifa had in the cupboard; three to a plate, with a saucer of soy sauce and a dab of wasabi.

Tasha had done her part, too. Deep fried spring rolls, fried rice, and lemon chicken also sat out. After seeing what Yuffie had done, she'd made plates too; each plate had one egg roll, a serving of fried rice, and a serving of lemon chicken on it. Each table had a bottle of soy sauce, duck sauce, and sweet and sour sauce out on it.

In fact, by the time the two were done, they were quite proud of themselves.

"Uh...It almost looks like a restaurant." Tasha said. The tables had three chairs each, and at each place there was one sushi plate, and one of Tasha's plates, along with a place setting and a set of disposable chopsticks. There was a pot of coffee and a pot of jasmine tea at each table, and the aforementioned condiments. Each place setting had a coffee cup and a tea cup set out.

"We forgot something." Yuffie said.

"What?" Tasha looked at her, panicked. "It looks perfect. There's no way we could have forgotten something."

"Fortune cookies!" Yuffie exclaimed. She held out a bag of them and giggled. "I had Shera pick them up when I remembered them."

"Ooooh." Tasha laughed. "I love fortune cookies. Can I have the leftovers?"

"Knock yourself out." Yuffie said, giggling. She and Tasha each took a handful and set about completing their masterpiece.

Afterward, they surveyed their handiwork. "It's really too bad they're gonna come in and ruin it." Tasha said, sounding disappointed.

"Yeah." Yuffie agreed. Then the door opened and Ron, Tasha's father, walked in.

At the sight of the nicely-done-up bar turned meeting hall, he stopped. "Do you have some sort of event coming in here tonight?" He asked Tasha, quizzically.

"Yeah, an AA meeting!" Tasha said. She and Yuffie high-fived.

Vincent watched the entire scene from his place behind the bar, where he'd been tasked to clean the mess up from the Wutai Food Experiment. He had placed the leftovers (for there were a lot of them) in covered containers, should anyone want seconds, and set about cleaning the sushi rollers, putting extra nori away, and scrubbing the pan Tasha had used to make the lemon chicken. The wok was soaking, and the deep fryer had been disassembled.

"They really outdid themselves, didn't they?" Shera asked. She'd come from upstairs at the commotion, and was equally astonished.

"I'm a little frightened to think about what the two of them could cook up between them." Vincent said, warily. He set the now-clean skillet on the burner to dry and set to washing the deep fryer basket.

"It does look nice, though. Some of the guys who come here for the meetings don't get to eat nice stuff like this regularly. It'll be quite a treat." She laughed. "Maybe Tifa should have these two as her caterers."

"If she wants to specialize in Wutain food only, count me in." Yuffie said, sliding into the seat next to Shera.

"Hey, I can make some mean Junon-style food." Tasha said. "I make some of the most awesome gyros you'll ever eat. Maybe I'll make those next week." She pondered the idea.

People began to file in, exclaiming over the food and accoutrements, while Tasha explained what gyros were to Yuffie.

Vincent half expected Yuffie to leave when Ron called the meeting to order, but she didn't. She didn't participate in the meeting, but she listened. Intently.

Later, she helped Vincent clean, telling Tasha and Shera to go to bed.

"Those people are really brave, Vinnie." She whispered while she sealed leftover sushi into airtight Tupperware.

Vincent pondered that for so long that Yuffie thought maybe he hadn't heard her. Then he spoke.

"I suppose that admitting that there is something wrong with you is brave." He said. "Doing something about it isn't brave, it's just common sense."

"You're wrong, Vinnie." Yuffie said. "Admitting you have a problem is easy compared to fixing the problem."

"I wouldn't know." Vincent said.

"Sure you would." She said, jovially. The mood swings she was going through were astounding. "You admit that there's plenty wrong with you, but you haven't done anything about it."

Vincent blinked. He'd never thought about it that way before, but he also doubted there was a 12-step group for his particular problems._ Self-punishers Anonymous_?

"I don't think you need a program to fix yourself, Vincent." Yuffie said, as if she were reading his mind. She cracked a smile, a real, genuine, Yuffie-eqsue smile that made Vincent think back to the 16-year-old girl he'd once known. "You just have to want to do it – want it more than anything."

**- - - - - **

Later that night, as he cleaned Death Penalty, Vincent thought about Yuffie's words. The smooth clack-clacking of moving metal was steady and gave him a good background for pondering.

Really – What WAS it that he wanted most? Obviously, it wasn't to fix his defects. He didn't care about his appearance. And he'd already, for the most part, gotten over Lucrecia.

That one would always sting a little, but the sting faded every day.

So what did he want most?

Up until yesterday, what he'd wanted most was for Yuffie to admit she had a problem and come crawling back, asking for help. He'd been really angry when she left and disliked having to just let go.

Now, however, that was over and done with. Now...what did he want?

That he didn't know did not settle well with him at all. Vincent was an expert at self-deceit, but rarely was he unable to find an answer when he truly sought it. It disturbed him on a level he was entirely unable to identify.

He sighed. Just when he thought that maybe he had some of life's mysteries figured out, it would do something like this. It was entirely like Yuffie to throw a wrench into things by her mere existence.

So what was it, then? What did he want most in life?

Right now, the answer to that question. He sighed. He was going around in circles now. Setting Death Penalty down on the bed behind him, he stood.

Time for a walk.

**- - - - - **

Vincent walked through the streets of Edge for several hours, being unable to come to any sort of conclusion or answer to his question. Eventually he found himself at the diner he'd seen Yuffie and Reno at so long ago, and out of boredom and hunger, he entered.

He sat at the bar and ordered something to eat, anything to stave off the hunger pangs that came more frequently now that Chaos had left him. Shortly after he ordered, he felt someone sit near him.

Yuffie.

"You've been walking around for a while." She said. She glanced up at the waitress and placed an order. "Real preoccupied like. You didn't even notice me tailing you."

He shrugged. He hadn't noticed her, that much was true, and it disturbed him just as much as the fact that he didn't even know what he wanted.

"What's on your mind?" She asked, taking a sip of coffee and grimacing. "Man, this stuff's got nothing on tea."

"This isn't good coffee." Vincent said, his brain on something like autopilot.

"Yeah, whatever. Give me a good green tea over coffee any day." Yuffie said, setting the cup down. "You didn't answer my question, though. What's up? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. It will pass." Vincent replied.

"Well, obviously there's an it." Yuffie said, grinning. Her face, in the few short days she'd been clean, had begun to fill out, so her smile was more like the old Yuffie. "And you think it will pass."

He frowned at her and mutely accepted his food from the waitress, beginning to eat.

"Look, Vincent, if you don't want to talk about it, I can't really force you." Yuffie said, nibbling on a piece of toast. "And I'm not really the kind of person who should be giving advice on how to fix yourself, either. But in my experience, if you keep things bottled in, you wind up...well, like either me, or you. And that's not really a good thing."

Vincent chuckled around a mouthful of hash browns. No, it really wasn't a good thing. It hadn't been for either of them.

"You know, I saw 'em kill Godo." Yuffie said. She frowned at her eggs. "I thought it'd hurt more, but I was just pissed because I lost Wutai. I know those fuckers are in there, messing up my palace and my country. I hate it." She was kind of twitchy, which Vincent took as a sign that they probably should be heading back to Tifa's soon. But Yuffie had more to say.

"But, you know, when I was sitting there waiting for you, at Gongaga, I kept thinking that if you could deal with your dad dying like that, and Chaos, and Lucrecia and Hojo, and Sephiroth...And not fall like I did...you know, I could do it, too." She bit her lip slightly and started eating.

Vincent snorted. "Yuffie. I slept in a coffin for thirty years. I think that if we're going to play a game of 'who's more messed up,' I win."

Yuffie laughed. "Did you just make a joke, Vincent?"

Crimson eyes blinked. "Why does everyone always seem so surprised about that?"

The ninja laughed outright, drawing attention from the rest of the diner. "You just don't seem the type, Vinnie."

Vincent smirked and turned back to his food.

"Oh, there you go again, Mr. Mysterious himself." Yuffie snorted. "Don't try to act so cool, Vinnie. We all know otherwise!"

"...You don't think I'm cool?" He looked at her with a faux wide-eyed stare. "I thought the cape was pretty cool."

Yuffie stared at him for a second and burst into peals of laughter. Finally, after several minutes of gasping and grabbing her stomach, she straightened up.

"Vinnie, if you want cool, you're going to have to ditch the shoes."

Vincent frowned. "I like these shoes."

"They're a real downer. Too pointy and metallic. They make you walk like a duck."

"A _duck_?"

"Yes. A duck." Suddenly Yuffie, who had been eating throughout the conversation, pushed her plate aside. "Done!"

Vincent paid for the meal, against Yuffie's protestations ("I can pay for myself, you know!"), and the two left the diner and headed back toward Tifa's. Vincent prayed that the brunette hadn't closed the bar yet, because he'd left his lockpick in his pack.

Not that he couldn't get in through the windows, but it was very inconvenient to attempt jumping from rooftop to rooftop quietly. That kind of thing made noise.

Especially in his boots.

Vincent frowned now. A duck? Really, he didn't think he walked at all duck-like. He stopped and started paying attention to how he was walking.

"Yes, you walk like a duck. You sort of waddle." Yuffie said. "Or shuffle. Something like that."

He stopped in his tracks. Was he that obvious?

Yuffie snickered.

Tifa had indeed closed the bar. Fortunately for them, Yuffie knew exactly how to jimmy the lock without breaking it. "I used to steal materia for a living, Vinnie." Yuffie said, rolling her eyes. "Stop looking at me like that."

The two of them walked to their individual rooms. Vincent bid Yuffie a good night and went to open his door.

"You know, Vinnie, when most guys take me on dates, they take me somewhere nice. Not to a dive diner." Yuffie winked at him to let him know she was joking, and went into her room.

Vincent blinked and looked at Yuffie's door.

With a sinking feeling, he realized that the answer to his question was much, much worse than he thought.

_Author's notes: WOW. Okay, that took forever and the ending sucked. I did like Vincent's little wry one-liners, though. Seriously, Vincent always struck me as having quite the sense of humor, but that he just kept it hidden. He's a smart guy; surely he'd get the concept! Plus, Vincent cracking jokes just seems like something that would be awesome to witness._

_This is a story about healing – and not just Yuffie. Keep that in mind._

_Read? Review! _


	7. Yesterday Laughs, Tomorrow Cries

**Diamonds and Guns**

_**Chapter Seven – Yesterday Laughs, Tomorrow Cries…**_

_Life goes on  
Come of age  
Can't hold on  
Turn the page  
Time rolls on  
Wipe your eyes  
Yesterday laughs  
Tomorrow cries…._

-- The Offspring, _Can't Repeat_

Yuffie had the ups and downs of every recovering addict. There were some days when she wanted nothing more than to go score a sack and get high. Other days the very idea disgusted her. She attended meetings and ate the special diet Tasha recommended. Her body filled out to its post-drug use proportions and her impish sense of humor returned.

One thing she couldn't bring herself to do was to get herself a sponsor. In the AA and NA circles, a sponsor is a recovering addict who has several years clean who kind of becomes a mentor to those just becoming clean. It's not required that you have a sponsor, but it is recommended. Yuffie did not feel comfortable with the concept.

Besides, she had Vincent.

Whenever she felt the urge to go do drugs, she sought out Vincent instead. He was still staying at Tifa's bar, much like Yuffie was. Unlike Yuffie, this was apparently unusual for him. They'd been there nearly six months, and according to Tifa, Vincent never really stayed in one place more than a few weeks at most.

Vincent wasn't much of a talker, but he was a good listener. Whenever Yuffie needed to talk, there he was, ready and willing to listen without interrupting.

On his part, Vincent had taken in all of the NA and AA literature, trying vaguely to understand what it was Yuffie was going through. He wound up coming to the conclusion that one had to be an addict to understand one.

Every time Yuffie had a meeting, Vincent would escort her there, and he would meet her there afterward. She was glad. Sometimes she came out of meetings wanting to go get tweaked, and seeing him there, leaning against the tree, waiting for her, was a much-needed balance.

While they weren't working on Yuffie's drug issues, they were helping Tifa around the bar and with her daughter. Yuffie adored Aerith, and Vincent didn't mind bartending. Yuffie was also learning to cook via Tasha and her catering efforts for the AA meeting, which was fast becoming the most popular in the area due to its reputation of delicious food.

Tifa loved the extra help and the money everything brought in. A new baby was much more difficult to raise than her or Cloud would have imagined. And, though they hadn't announced it yet, there was another one on the way. This time she wanted a boy.

There were many milestones on the day of Yuffie's six-month birthday of being clean. The first was that Aerith had discovered Vincent's claw and was completely fascinated by it, much to his chagrin, and much to the amusement of everyone in the Strife household.

The second was that everyone in AVALANCHE had found their way to Edge to celebrate, unbeknownst to Yuffie. Even Red XIII, who rarely came out of Cosmo Canyon anymore.

The third was that the AA meeting that Tasha and Yuffie usually catered had planned a surprise party for her, in conjunction with Tifa and the rest of AVALANCHE. The only person not in on the party was Vincent.

So that night, after Tasha and Yuffie set out the gyros they'd made and retired to the washroom to clean up, the group filled the bar and began hanging streamers and setting out the cake they'd bought.

"Hey, I gotta go do something." Tasha said to Yuffie and Vincent. She set her wash towel down on the counter. "I'll be right back."

Yuffie and Vincent shot a look at each other and turned as one to watch the brunette walk out the door. "Something's up." Yuffie said, suspiciously.

"Agreed." Vincent said. They walked toward the door, which Vincent opened. He gestured for Yuffie to precede him as he always did.

They were greeted with about forty recovering alcoholics and addicts from various meetings and this one, as well as the entirety of AVALANCHE, and a gigantic banner that said "CONGRATULATIONS YUFFIE!"

Tasha was standing off to the side, snapping pictures. "Gotta get pictures of the looks on your faces." She said, beaming.

"What's...going on?" Yuffie asked.

"It's been six months since you got clean!" Tifa exclaimed, handing her a soda. Everyone burst into applause.

The party slash meeting was fun for all involved. If anyone noticed that Vincent slipped away shortly after it began, no one said anything.

**- - - - - **

Vincent's door was open. This was a rarity, indeed.

On her way to her bedroom, after the party, Yuffie noted this fact and glanced inward. She could see the gunman, staring up toward the moon at the window.

He looked….forlorn. More than usual, anyway. If such a thing was possible.

Yuffie felt a pang. Today, she'd been clean and sober for six months. And yet, the one responsible for it all was standing depressed-like in his motel room, staring at the sky like it was a lost lover.

"Vincent?" She asked softly. Vincent did not turn, which she took to mean that he had been aware of her presence.

"Are you okay?" She questioned him. Still no answer. She walked softly into his room, hoping he wasn't having some sort of weird PTSD moment and would turn around and shoot her, thinking she was charlie.

There he was. She could see what it was he was staring at, now. It was not the evening sky, but the setting sun. The horizon.

Yuffie wondered. Tifa had said that before she got clean, Vincent didn't stay in any one place for very long. He would travel, stop in from time to time, and be off. It was just his way, now that he didn't have the past completely haunting him into a coffin.

However, since Yuffie called him that day six months ago, Vincent hadn't left. He'd stayed here, in Edge, with her, without a word of complaint, and with the loyalty of a puppy. Which, now that Yuffie thought about it, was a really weird analogy to use about Vincent Valentine.

"Do you miss traveling?" She asked, coming to stand beside him.

"Sometimes." He said, softly. She knew that Vincent would never lie to her.

Yuffie nodded. "You know…before Godo died, I used to feel that way." She laughed. "I'd sit there in my room and wish I was out here with the gang again, fighting, or even on my own, just being my normal old self. I hated being stuck in stuffy old rooms and listening to my dad rant about my sacred duties. I just wanted to be free."

Vincent didn't say anything; he just continued to look at the horizon. Yuffie figured that he was probably wishing he was a part of it.

But a cold fear settled down in her stomach on the thought of Vincent leaving. He was her stable element. He was always there for her. She knew that if she asked him, he'd stay indefinitely. But instead she chose to ignore it. For now.

She turned to exit.

"Yuffie…do you ever miss Wutai?" Vincent asked, softly, still staring out the window pane.

Yuffie turned and looked at his profile, smiling sadly. "More than anything, Vinnie. More than anything."

**- - - - - **

The next day most everyone departed – including Tasha.

"I'm due to finish my apprenticeship on the Shera." She said, lighting a cigarette as her husband loaded their things onto the plane. "When I sit my exams in Junon I'll be a full-fledged pilot." She smiled. "It's gonna take a while, though. I'll see you 'round. Good luck."

So it was down to Cloud, Tifa, baby Aerith, Yuffie, and Vincent at the bar. And it was painfully boring – the AA meetings left with Tasha, and now that it was nearly winter, the bar wasn't occupied very often.

"That was the one good thing about Midgar." Tifa said, wiping the bar down. "Weather never came into play."

"It's not snowing or anything, it's just cold." Yuffie pointed out.

"Well, that, and – it's almost Christmas." Tifa said, smiling. "No one is gonna come in here and spend their hard-earned gil on booze when they know their kids are expecting presents. And really, I can't expect them to. Lucky for us, we bought our presents during the summer rush."

Yuffie nodded. Christmas. Wow. It was only a week away.

How had time flown so fast?

Luckily for her, she had plenty of money. She didn't depend on seasons to buy stuff.

So, that night, she buckled up her snow boots (the warmest boots she had) and bid Tifa goodbye. "I'm going shopping, Teef." She said, smiling. "Tell Vinnie not to tail me, because I'm gonna go buy his Christmas present."

Tifa smirked. "Okay. Be careful."

**- - - - - **

The bitter wind swirled bits of dust around her boots as she crunched her way toward an all-night department store. It howled, too. The whole scene was a little unsettling, and seeing as Yuffie was the official Queen of Hyperimagination, she began to think of all sorts of scary, spine-tingling things to go with the setting. By the time she got to the store, she was spooked.

So seeing Rude there was a little like a premonition come true. Almost.

"Yuffie?" The bald man asked. He was the same as ever, of course – he'd never done drugs. But Yuffie was obviously a lot different. Despite the fact that she'd kept her long hair, she'd also filled out a bit (a bit too much, in her opinion, but Tifa and all of them were constantly explaining to her that a little baby at was cute on a girl her age), and her face had lost its hollow look.

"Rude?" She asked, dropping her purse in fright. "Oh, shit." She bent over to pick it up. "You scared me, baldy!"

Rude cracked a rare smile at that. "You look really good, Yuffie." He nodded. "I'm glad."

"Maybe you can help me, actually." Yuffie laughed. "I'm looking for a present for Vincent. I'm willing to bet you could tell me what tall, dark, handsome, secretive, angsty, trying-too-hard-to-be-cool guys would want, right?"

Without skipping a beat, Rude said "Definitely brass knuckles."

Yuffie howled in laughter. "I dunno know if you noticed, Baldy, but Vinnie already kinda has brass knuckles!"

Rude laughed.

He also very kindly helped her pick out presents for everyone. He was much better at it than Yuffie would have thought he'd be; in fact, he expertly picked out a Solar System mobile for Aerith, a new set of riding gloves with materia slots for Cloud, and a boxed set of the popular Harry Potter books for Tifa (who was enamored with the movies).

Vincent was a little harder. She finally settled on two things for him: one serious, one sentimental. The serious one was a self-help book called "Confronting Your Demons." While she knew the book wouldn't talk about how to exorcize the Gallian Beast, she knew the book, if Vincent chose to read it, would be of great value to him. To go with this she also got a leather-bound, security-locked journal in red and a nice pen.

The second was a little more sentimental, and she thought she might just give it to him in private.

Rude and Yuffie sat, later that night, in a coffee shop, catching up on life in general. Her purchases sat in piles of bags at her feet, and her laughter was music to Rude's ears. She'd straightened up and he was happy for it.

Finally, they touched on a subject both had been avoiding.

"What…did they do with Reno?" She asked, her voice hushed. Her shoulders hunched over and she looked cold.

"Well, he was a former Turk. Rufus gave him a good place at the cemetery and a decent funeral. I think he blamed himself." Rude shook his head. "It was a good funeral, but not many people came to it. Reno always thought he had so many friends, and in the end, it was just me, the Turks, and Rufus at his funeral. Kinda sad."

Yuffie bit her lip. "Show me." She said. She slapped down some gil to pay for the meal and gathered her things. "I never got to pay my respects."

Rude eyed her for a second before nodding and standing.

Rufus had given Reno a rich man's burial in the big cemetery at the edge of town. His gravestone was simple; inscribed only with his name and dates of birth and death.

Yuffie set her things down and kneeled at his gravestone, touching it lightly with her fingertips as if it would burn.

And finally, for the first time in months, she allowed herself to cry. Reno had been messed up, but she was pretty sure he wasn't an actively bad person. Why was she spared, and he taken?

Why did she hit rock bottom, and live? Why did he hit rock bottom, and die?

Hot tears leaked down her cold cheeks and she murmured Reno's name. Pressing her forehead to the stone, she let out a shaky sigh.

After a few moments in that position, she began to feel a little silly and stood up. Rude was politely looking in the opposite direction, and hadn't said a word.

"Okay, I think I'm done." She said, glancing behind her at the stone. She wiped the tears from her eyes. "Time to put the past behind me."

**- - - - - **

Christmas Day was freezing.

For the first time in living memory, it snowed at Midgar, and in nearby Edge. The last recorded snowstorm over the former Shinra base of operations was well over a century ago, before the city had been founded. It was cold.

Tifa threw an extra log on the fire in the fireplace, shut the doors to the bar securely, and continued assisting Aerith with unwrapping her present from Yuffie.

Cloud loved the gloves she'd got him, and Tifa was ecstatic about the book set. As far as Yuffie could tell, Aerith adored her mobile, too.

Yuffie had left her presents for Vincent in his room; she didn't think either was really appropriate for a public setting.

Vincent, for his part, had also gotten everyone presents. For Aerith, a scale model of Death Penalty that rattled when she shook it (Aerith was delighted and promptly decided that the handle made a good sucker), a blank recipe book for Tifa that locked (so that no one could steal her secret recipes), which Tasha, Yuffie and Vincent had already added to, and a metal model of the Fenrir for Cloud that looked like it had been handmade and assembled. Leave it to Vincent to know how to make model parts.

He'd even gotten something for Yuffie, which shouldn't have surprised her but did. When she was handed the wrapped package, she looked at him suspiciously. She'd expected everyone else to give her presents (after all, she'd just celebrated her birthday and her sobriety birthday; everyone loved to combine everything for Christmas. She'd gotten quite the haul), Vincent was the odd one out. He was alternately cold and sentimental.

While she opened the package, she vaguely hoped it'd be better than the presents everyone else had given her. Not that she didn't love Tifa and Cloud's present of a mastered Cure materia, or Red's all-natural, ochre-based, Wutain-style makeup set (she actually loved that one a lot), or the ornate lighter Cid had given her ("For starting campfires only!" The note said inside), she desperately wanted Vincent's present to be special.

And extraordinarily, it was. It was a set of pictures of all of AVALANCHE, from right after the Omega incident. There were group shots and candid shots, and all of them were put into a scrapbook type thing that everyone had signed like a yearbook. There were notes from everyone – things like "Congrats on getting clean!", as well as a list of everyone's PHS numbers. In it there was even a picture of Vincent smiling.

She grinned at him. "I had no idea you were so sentimental, Vinnie!" She said, closing the book and hugging it to her chest.

Vincent shrugged.

After everyone disbursed, Tifa to prepare Christmas dinner, and everyone else to go play with their new toys, Yuffie turned to Vincent.

"I got you presents, but I didn't think you'd want to open them in front of everyone." She said, softly. He raised his eyebrow.

She grinned and gestured for him to follow her upstairs.

**- - - - - **

Vincent thanked her for her presents. She couldn't tell if he liked the book or journal, because he was Vincent and displaying any emotion other than anger or rage was unheard of. But she knew she'd gotten him with her other present.

He stopped and his eyes widened. It was a ring. Yuffie wasn't sure if Vincent was the jewelry type, but she knew he'd like it just the same – it was emblazoned with the sigil of Cerberus, the three-headed hound his gun was named after. She knew he liked it, because the same sigil graced his gun and his cell phone. She'd had to pay close attention to him over the years to discern any sort of an interest on his part toward anything not involving Lucrecia, and she knew the rest of AVALANCHE would not have noticed.

"Merry Christmas." She said, smiling.

Vincent continued to look at the ring for a few moments before he looked at her. "Thank you, Yuffie." He said.

Christmas dinner was of course excellent; how could it not be, if Tifa made it? Yuffie sat back and patted her belly, content. Vincent, of course, politely excused himself from the table as soon as he was finished eating.

"That was awesome, Tifa." Yuffie said, happily.

Tifa smiled at her and began cleaning up; always the forward-thinker, everything had been served in dishes that had seals to go on top of them, and the mess in the kitchen was already disposed of.

Yuffie helped her clear the table and do the dishes, and then headed upstairs to sleep of her immense meal. She noted that Vincent's door was once again open. Curious, she peered in.

A pack sat on his bed and Vincent sat next to it, staring at her ring.

"Vinnie?" She asked, nervously opening the door.

He looked up at her and said nothing.

"Going somewhere?"

He nodded.

"Anywhere in particular?" Her voice quivered.

"Not really." He said. She could see it – the wanderlust in his eyes. Vincent didn't like staying in one place for too long, and it was showing on his face.

She bit her lip. "Keep in touch?"

"Of course." He said. He stood and slung his pack to his back.

Tifa and family had already retired to the home section of their bar, so when Vincent went to exit, it was just the two of them.

"You won't say goodbye to anyone?" Yuffie asked, tears forming. She resolutely swallowed, trying not to show weakness.

"I will see them again." Vincent said. "Goodbye sounds very…final."

She nodded.

Vincent opened the door and made to leave, and then turned to look at her. "You could come with me, you know."

Yuffie looked at him, with tears in her eyes. She closed them and bit her lip.

A thumping sound was heard as Vincent dropped his pack, and then she felt his arms surrounding her. As if it was some sort of queue, her tears began, and she started crying into his shoulder, even as she hugged him back.

"I'm sorry, Yuffie. I cannot stay. It is not in my nature." He whispered.

"I know. It's okay." She said, sniffling. She was afraid to look up into his face, his eyes. "I'm just afraid. I'm so used to you being around that I started taking it for granted. You always helped me and I'm afraid of what I'll do when you're gone."

A sardonic noise came from the older man, and when she looked up he was staring into the distance.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing's wrong. I just find it kind of funny that you find such comfort in my presence." Vincent gave her a sad little smile and let his arms fall to his sides.

She quickly dropped her embrace as well, and nothing further was said as he left.

Yuffie dropped to the floor, the tears starting again. This felt so wrong to her.

She ran upstairs, drying her tears as she ran. She threw her things into a pack and left a quick note for Tifa, and then ran downstairs again.

Vincent was at the city limits when he heard his name being called. He turned and Yuffie was running toward him, her winter clothes tripping her up, and a pack slung over her shoulder. She waved at him. "Vincent!"

He waited for her.

"Whew. Thought I'd never catch up to you." Yuffie said. Her duffel was heavy with clothes and her new Christmas presents; strapped to the side was Conformer.

Vincent then did something that amazed Yuffie; he smiled.

_Author's notes: Wow, that was a weird chapter to write. I knew where I wanted it to go, but I wasn't sure how to get it there. I think it turned out alright, but I don't think it was my best._

_Also, I typed this up on my husband's PC, instead of my Mac, and Microsoft Word's SpellCheck does NOT like the world of FF7. Every two seconds it was like "Materia? WTF? And Yuffie isn't even a word, let alone a proper noun! Stupid pathetic human!"_

_His computer hates me. Anyway. _

_Read? Review!_


	8. Feelin' Way Too Damn Good

**Diamonds and Guns**

_**Chapter Eight – Feelin' Way Too Damn Good**_

_And it's like  
Every time I turn around  
I fall in love and find my heart face down  
And where it lands is where it should  
This time it's like  
The two of us should probably start to fight  
Cuz something's gotta go wrong  
Cuz I'm feelin' way too damn good_

-- Nickelback, _Feelin' Way Too Damn Good_

Nibelheim was where they wound up.

That wasn't how Vincent had planned it – in fact, he hadn't planned it at all. Very little in his life went according to plan, so he abandoned them pretty early on.

But the place he least wanted to take Yuffie was where they wound up. They stumbled into the town after a treacherous crossing of the Nibel Mountains late at night, and without thinking Vincent led them to the mansion.

Seeing as it was his now (Vincent had been given the deed at one of the parties Rufus attended) it seemed rather silly to waste the money on an inn. He knew Yuffie hated the mansion, but it was a definite place to sleep where they didn't have to worry about monsters attacking them.

Not too much, at least. The monsters stayed out of the bedroom, for the most part.

That brought Vincent up sharp. There was only the master bedroom that was safe – where would Yuffie stay?

Of course, he'd give her the room. So, where would he stay? Exhaustion was setting in, or else he'd stay up and fend off monsters in another part of the house. Perhaps they'd better stay at the inn.

Unfortunately, that avenue was closed – the inn was full. Vincent swore as he led Yuffie out of the building. She was all but asleep. If only they hadn't taken that shortcut through the mountains, they wouldn't be so exhausted. Then again, they wouldn't be in town by now, either, and would have been forced to make camp on the treacherous mountain path.

"Let's just sleep at the mansion, Vince." Yuffie said, petulantly tugging on his cloak. "I'm tired."

"There's only one room." He said.

She sighed. "We've been sharing a tent for how long, now? I think it's okay if we split a bedroom."

Vincent agreed that it was probably a moot point by now anyway. And obviously, Yuffie's father was not going to come after him if he suspected his daughters' virginity was missing – which it already was, of course, long before Vincent and her had set out from Edge two months ago.

Their phones had died in Corel, and they hadn't had a chance to charge them since, so Vincent suspected that Tifa was going insane with worry and hope.

Worry that they were hurt – hope that this was an extended honeymoon. The martial artist had let slip to Vincent before they'd left that she kind of thought they "looked cute together," which Vincent had rolled his eyes at.

Vincent knew several things at this point – he knew that he loved the young ninja. He also knew that one was not supposed to get into relationships while in recovery until you were secure in that sobriety.

Lastly, he knew that Yuffie didn't view him as relationship potential. He was her friend, her trusted confidante, and something like a sponsor, but not a future mate.

Ergo, whenever he had to hold her at night, it was because of nightmares, not because of lust.

Strangely, Vincent was fine with that. It wasn't more self-induced martyrdom on his part; he enjoyed Yuffie's company very much and felt that that was quite enough. Having her around definitely staved off the loneliness he often felt while traveling.

Luckily, most of the monsters of the mansion seemed to be in a separate part of the house. They hoisted their packs and ran toward the bedroom, hearing noises throughout the house that meant the monsters had picked up their scent.

Once they reached their destination, Vincent securely locked and dead-bolted the bedroom door, and viewed it.

It had gained dust in the year or so since he'd been there, but otherwise was the same. He had entertained notions that the youth of Nibelheim used the mansion as a getaway for teenage romantic trysts, but apparently he was wrong.

"A bed!" Yuffie exclaimed, happily falling onto it and sighing in contentment. Vincent smiled, just a little bit – everything Yuffie did was exaggerated, but it was something that was almost a trademark of hers. She wouldn't be Yuffie if she didn't overdo everything.

Vincent began to spread out his sleeping roll on the floor when Yuffie peeked at him bleary-eyed. "What are you doing?"

"...going to sleep?" He said, confused.

Yuffie raised her eyebrow. "Vince, it's a huge bed – bigger than the tent. I think we can both sleep on it just fine. It's not fair for you to sleep on the floor when I get the nice...comfy...bed..." She closed her eyes briefly, then they shot open and she grinned at him and patted the bed. "Come on, Vince. You know you wanna."

"No thank you." Vincent said, politely, before turning back to continue laying out his pack.

"If you sleep down there, so do I." Yuffie said, grabbing her bedroll as well.

"Yuffie..." He said. Really, he was tired. Couldn't she just drop this so that they could go to sleep?

"It's just not fair, Vinnie!" She exclaimed. "If anyone's earned the right to a soft bed, it's you. Take it. I'll sleep on the floor."

"Absolutely not." Vincent was firm on that ground. His father had taught him from a very young age that you always let the lady have the conveniences – you open the door for her, give her the softest pillow, help her across the mud, even if you get mud on your boots. He was fairly certain that courtesy extended to giving them the only bed in the room.

"Well, then, you are going to deal with a very bitchy ninja pretty soon, because I'm not sleeping until you get on the bed." Yuffie said, crossing her arms defiantly. Vincent groaned and closed his eyes, bringing his hand to his forehead. He was beginning to develop a headache. He knew exactly how stubborn Yuffie could be if she wanted to do so, and he could tell he was on the verge of an all-out shouting match with her. Frankly, he just didn't have the energy.

Sighing, he climbed into the far side of the bed, facing away from her. The pillows and bed were indeed soft, and he felt himself falling asleep far sooner than he'd expected to. He felt Yuffie removing his cloak and boots, clucking in an almost motherly way, before tucking him in, which would have amused him if he were coherent enough to laugh.

His headache was gone, though.

**- - - - - **

Yuffie awoke at promptly 7 a.m., as she had most of her life, except for her brief stint as a drug addict. She only needed five or six hours of sleep to feel rested the next morning, and this was proof.

She blinked and turned toward Vincent, expecting him to be up and about – he usually woke before her. To her surprise, he was completely out of it, asleep and curled up next to her for warmth. She'd taken his headband out the night before and his hair was scattered around him.

His face was relaxed, which looked strange on Vincent. With that and his hair, and the fact that in his sleep his lower lip poked out in an almost-pout, she thought he looked adorable.

For Vincent.

She was very tempted to take a picture, but alas, the camera was her phone, and her phone was dead. She'd forgotten to plug their phones in the night before, falling asleep soon after she got Vincent taken care of and changed into her night clothing.

However, she DID have her sketch pad and pencils, which both Vincent and her made use of often. Vincent, surprisingly enough, had a very deft hand at drawing, despite the fact that it was a claw.

Moving slightly to keep from waking Vincent, she leaned to her pack at the side of the bed and snagged the first sharpened pencil she could find, and her sketch pad – which she was going to have to renew soon, as she was running out of paper.

She propped herself up against the pillow and started drawing Vincent. She knew she could never show him this, because he'd be infuriated. Well, she didn't know if he'd be infuriated, but possibly embarrassed, or some other strange emotion. The one time she'd drawn him he'd seemed disturbed, and she'd never done it again.

Unfortunately, the fates seemed determined for him to discover it, because he woke up just as she was adding the finishing touches.

He blinked slowly, getting used to the unfamiliar feeling of a bed and a warm body next to him. Then he shot up, eyes wide, looking at Yuffie, who laughed outright at the expression on his face.

"You know, for someone who could be a stand-in for the angel of death, you sure look cute when you sleep." She said, impishly, drawing the sketch pad to herself.

He frowned and then turned toward the wall and yawned mightily, which amused Yuffie even further. He pushed his hair out of his face, frowning even more deeply. He was unused to having his hair in his face – that was what the headband was for.

Yuffie giggled. "You have bed-head, mister."

Vincent was not a morning person. He never really had been, and it was worse now that he'd started aging again. So he turned and glared at her, the kind of glare that would have sent most people on the planet running if they saw Vincent making it. Yuffie, however, pointed and laughed, in the process dropping the sketch pad.

Vincent reached out and snagged it before she could stop him, and froze, that look coming over his face again.

The look he'd gotten when she'd drawn him last time. It was a mix of disturbed, upset, and...something else she couldn't quite place.

Whatever it was, though, it was a softer emotion than anything else.

"I was gonna take a picture, but my phone's dead." Yuffie started to explain. But at the look on his face, she shut up. Very few people had that affect on Yuffie Kisaragi, even at her most timid. In fact, Vincent was probably the only one on the planet.

Yuffie tried to see the picture from his eyes. Him, looking totally defenseless, with no shirt on, sprawled over a bed and part of her leg, wrapped in sheets, a pout over his sleeping face, and hair askew. He probably thought she was infatuated with him or something, because despite the vague innocence of it, it was decidedly sexual in nature.

Vincent didn't say anything. He tossed the pad on the bed and stood up, grabbing his things from the neat pile Yuffie had left them in on the floor and heading toward the bedroom's attached bathroom, shutting the door firmly behind him.

Yuffie sighed and pulled the pad to her, drawing it up and tracing it's lines with her fingers. Really, Vincent was enjoyable to draw; he had classic lines and a great body and face. Most guys who looked like him would love having anyone sketch them. She failed to see why it disturbed him so much.

She could hear the sounds of Vincent preparing to shower, and she flipped a page in her sketchbook, knowing from experience that he'd take a while. A man with hair like that had to.

She thought she'd draw the Nibel Mountains they'd just crossed. She began with a jagged edge, and then she let her hand do the rest.

To her surprise, she didn't draw the mountains, or anything else she'd ever drawn before. It was Chaos, the being who'd possessed Vincent up until the Deepground incident. Chaos looked like Vincent would if he were a demon, but there was a kindness there that she could see, because it was Vincent too, not just Chaos. She finished sketching and reached for her colored pencils, a present from Nanaki, to add depth to the portrait.

When she was finished, she set the pad down, wondering why in her right mind she'd drawn something she knew for a fact would upset Vincent. He didn't like being reminded of the monsters he'd housed back then.

Knowing she stank, she shrugged back into her dirty clothes, deciding to go get something to eat while Vincent pouted. She knew he would.

Sliding the pad under her pillow, she grabbed some gil and her Conformer, and headed out to the inn, where she knew they made meals.

**- - - - - **

Vincent was always cheap. He always had been, ever since Yuffie had known him. He was more likely to buy a potion than a hi-potion even if his arm had fallen off. So they'd eaten food over this trip that was...okay. Not good, not bad. Okay.

So Yuffie, being a former princess and rich, splurged on breakfast. She got the steak and eggs platters, which were immense and costly. While the cooks were preparing it, she slipped over to the shop and got a few more things, and then picked up the food.

So she was loaded down heavily while she trekked through the mansion, keeping an ear out for monsters. Because she was being quiet and slow, nothing attacked her, which was good. She had a suspicion that she carried so much crap that she wouldn't be able to run if they did attack her.

Vincent was still in the bathroom when she got in, which wasn't unusual. Brushing out that mane of hair had to be a chore. As of on queue, she heard a round of epithets issue from the bathroom; apparently, the gunslinger had run into a tangle.

Yuffie giggled and started setting everything up. She hauled a desk over from the corner and set it near the bed. Then she dragged out the coffee maker she'd purchased and started coffee dripping – she hated starting the day out without a good cup of coffee or tea, and they'd been out of tea at the shop. Plus, she knew Vincent liked coffee.

She paused. Since when did she care about Vincent's comfort more than hers?

She shook that thought off and brought out the plastic plates and started setting out food, and then plastic and Styrofoam cups; plastic for the orange juice, and Styrofoam for the coffee. She set out sugar and cream for the coffee, and drug two chairs over.

There. A proper breakfast. She grinned as Vincent exited the bathroom, hair damp and in his headband, and wearing only his pants. He stopped and looked at the food.

"Surprise!" Yuffie said, giggling as she sat on her side of the desk, chowing down. A slow smile crept up on Vincent's face.

"Real food, hmm?" He said, sitting in the empty chair. A pleased expression crossed his face. "Coffee?"

"Mmm hmm! It's not green tea, but they were out, so it'll do. I got the good stuff!" She exclaimed. "And juice, can't go without juice. 's good for you."

Vincent seemed so pleased at the spread that it was worth the effort. Granted, he only smiled once, but for Vincent, that was amazing.

"So." Yuffie said, after they'd finished. "Why are we in Nibelheim?"

"...I'm not sure." Vincent said, surprised himself. "We just sort of..."

"Wound up here?" Yuffie suggested, finishing her cup of coffee and pouring a cup of juice.

"Indeed." Vincent said. He frowned.

"So, does Rufus mind if we stay here a while, you think?" Yuffie asked, swinging her legs happily.

"...Rufus does not own the mansion." Vincent said. He seemed embarrassed.

"Really? He sold it?" Yuffie's eyes widened. "Who does it belong to? Do you think we'd get into trouble?"

"No." Vincent said. He cleared his throat. "Rufus gave me the mansion."

Yuffie grinned. "Well, then, Vinnie, why don't you demolish it? Put something cool here!"

Vincent looked at her, a confused expression. "Like what?"

"I dunno. A house. A bar. A theme park. Anything, so long as it's not this creepy old house!" She shivered. "Besides...I think it'd be good for you. You know, putting the past aside and all that."

Vincent was silent as he continued to eat and ponder her idea. The concept had honestly never occurred to him; this house was unending, immortal. But he really could, if he wanted to. The deed was in his pack. He could feasibly knock down the mansion, fill the basements with cement, and start over from scratch.

He wondered if that was why Rufus had deeded it to him.

He had some reservations on the idea, though. He had a lot of history in this old house. He'd met Lucrecia here...as well as Yuffie. Not to mention, the place was close to a historical landmark – it was well over a century old.

He shook his head. "I don't know, Yuffie. A lot of things happened here. If anything, it should probably be made into a museum. Plus, demolishment and development are expensive."

She laughed. "Vinnie, I know you're a cheapskate but we both know how much money the both of us have." She cracked her fingers expertly. "Don't think you're the only one who knows how to hack!"

His eyes widened.

She laughed. "I just wanted to see how much everyone had stored away. That was a long time ago, of course, back before I stole everyone's materia. If you had that much then, I can guess at how much you have now!" She beamed. "'sides, I want this place gone as much as everyone else. I'll help!"

"What would I put here?" Vincent asked, trying to think of excuses not to knock the mansion down. "This town already has everything it needs – there's a tavern, an inn, a store, a weapon maker..."

"So build yourself a house!" Yuffie exclaimed. A frown graced her features. "Vincent, don't lie to me here. I can tell you don't wanna knock the house down. I just think...it'd be good for you. To let go of the past."

Vincent glared at his eggs. Yuffie was right, and he knew it.

"Besides, this place reeks." Yuffie said, scrunching up her nose and making Vincent chuckle.

**- - - - - **

Vincent called Tifa that day. It took a while to get to that point, however, because Vincent had neglected to pay his phone bill while it was dead. While he took care of that fiasco, Yuffie looked at new phones and exclaimed over features. She wound up buying a new one, a green-and-white number that recorded video, and a bigger memory card for it.

"It ALSO connects to the 'net!" She exclaimed, happily, as they walked back to the mansion. Vincent was futilely trying to get a signal; he knew from previous experience that the only place in town that one could make a good cell phone call from was from the towers in the mansion.

One thing was certain. Rufus Shinra was going to be getting a phone call from him, demanding that more cell phone towers be put up in the area.

Tifa was surprised to hear from him. "Vincent??" She said.

"Tifa." He said. Yuffie jumped behind him.

"HI TIFA!!!" She exclaimed, waving at the phone as if it would allow Tifa to see it.

Tifa laughed. "I'm glad to hear from you guys!" She said. "We were worried."

Vincent explained, briefly, how their phones had died from lack of charge and they'd just gotten to a place with electrical service. Then he told her about the mansion.

"Really?" Tifa was astonished. "I'll call the others; they'll want to be on hand for that."

A call was also placed to Rufus Shinra; he was hard to get hold of, and finally Vincent had to resort to calling Rude to get a fix on the former Shinra president. However, when Rufus finally got the news, he was ecstatic.

He also got a stern talking to from Vincent, who was hunched over in the one spot of cellular reception in town. Rufus, who owned the cellular networks, promised to get that fixed ASAP. He was personally going to fly over for the demolition.

And so it happened that a few weeks later, after Vincent and Yuffie had removed the things of importance from the mansion (records, to go to Cosmo Canyon for filing; one-of-a-kind books that needed to be saved; some valuable antique furniture that Vincent was fond of), there was quite a crowd gathered to see the demolition of the Shinra Mansion. There were even newscasters, who Vincent was very busy avoiding.

Yuffie filmed the whole thing on her new phone, after taking a picture of all of AVALANCHE, plus the Turks and Rufus, standing in front of the old building, Cid pointing up toward the bulldozer enthusiastically.

The moment the wrecking ball crushed the first part of the building, Vincent felt a moment of doubt. He winced slightly, but refused to turn away, watching until the demolition was complete. A cheer went up as the last piece of rubble fell to the ground.

The crowd thinned at that point, and a crew began cleaning up the wreckage. The house and basement had been cleared of items, and the basement and old sewage system were being filled in. Seeing as it was the largest plot of land in Nibelheim, several things were going to go up on it; including, at Yuffie's insistence, a proper house for Vincent, and some chocobo stables.

First, though, proper plumbing and electrical lines were going to be put in – the old house had been built before those technologies were commonplace, and the jury-rigged systems had started to fail long ago.

Reeve had discovered Yuffie's ideas for a house and automatically, the engineer side of his mind taking over, began designing a house that would fit Vincent's needs. Vincent, when looking over the blueprints (which Reeve had with him the day of the demolition) was surprised at how well the younger man seemed to know him and his quirks – the house was pretty much everything he'd been thinking of, except that there was a "guest house" attachment for when AVALANCHE came to visit – which he was assured they all would, frequently. He wondered how much he'd enjoy that as time wore on.

The house would have two bedrooms, each with an attached bathroom, and a spare bathroom attached to the living room. A large, professional-style kitchen (how Reeve knew that he could and did cook was beyond him) was attached via doorway to an elegant dining room. Best of all, there was to be a library, with comfortable chairs and bookcases ceiling-to-floor. Vincent quite liked that idea.

Reeve also designed a wine cellar, running parallel to where the old labs had been. Vincent also liked that idea.

So when he approved of the blueprints, Reeve beamed at him, so brightly that Vincent looked at him suspiciously before turning away.

Cleanup was scheduled to take a few months, so Yuffie and Vincent left for Cosmo Canyon, to deliver the priceless relics and records from the basement. Nanaki magnanimously allowed them free reign of the libraries there, which Yuffie eschewed at first, until she found Vincent there one day, buried ankle-deep in tomes, reading vivaciously.

"What's so interesting about a bunch of records?" She asked.

"They're not just records, Yuffie." Vincent said. "They're everything about everyone who lived before. Old stories and legends, recipes...even instructions. Here's a manual on how to build a hand-axe. You could learn anything here." The awe in his voice was palpable, amazing for a man like Vincent, and it perked Yuffie's interest.

And so months' end found them wishing they didn't feel the urge to leave the canyon. Nanaki promised them access when they decided to return.

They thought they might visit Cid in Rocket Town, but first they stopped in at Nibelheim to see how cleanup was progressing.

Reeve met them at the town limits, grinning.

"Nanaki told me you'd left." Reeve said, his grin fit to fall off his face, it was so huge. "We pulled some strings here and there. Come look."

Vincent merely widened his eyes, which was indication enough for Reeve that he was stunned. But Yuffie's jaw dropped.

"How'd you get it done so fast?" She asked. There, in place of the mansion, stood a brand-new chocobo stable (you could tell because of the warking coming from within) and a long driveway leading up to a house, hidden behind newly-planted trees. The house was painted in simple tones, not too bright and cheerful but not depressingly.

Walking in, you could smell new plaster and paint. Metal gleamed bright, and the carpet was clean and fresh. There was furniture, even.

"Surprise!" A voice rang out. Vincent turned as the various members of AVALANCHE, Nanaki included, popped out of hiding places. The shock must have been palpable on his face, because a cheer rang out.

Yuffie was obviously not in on the surprise, because she was just as shocked. Every single person looked extremely pleased with themselves.

"We all helped." Tifa said, smiling. Her pregnancy was now showing, and she looked happier than ever. "Cid got good deals on the supplies, Reeve organized the crew, Rufus supplied the money, Cloud and I picked out the furniture..."

"An' I got Nibelheim hooked up to the new hydro-electric power plant." Barret said, proudly thumping himself in the chest. "So now y'all ain't gotta worry 'bout no mako or pollution."

"Nanaki got copies made of all of the books at Cosmo Canyon that you liked while you were there." Cloud said, quietly. "He and Reeve filled up the library."

"Shera got you started on some wine for the cellar." Cid said, proudly drawing his wife to his side. "Her brother owns a vineyard and winery in Gongaga, so we got some good stuff for ya."

"Shelke, Shera and I picked out stuff for the kitchen." Tifa said.

"An' me and Denzel made art for you!" Marlene exclaimed, thrusting a sheaf of drawn-on papers into Vincent's hand. They weren't artist-quality, of course, but they were the kind of drawings that people proudly hung on their refrigerators; childlike drawings of Vincent saving Marlene and Denzel from the three silver haired men, of Vincent fighting Deepground soldiers, of AVALANCHE fighting Sephiroth...And one of Vincent standing in front of his new house.

Vincent looked at everyone, then to their consternation, turned and left the house.

"Is he okay?" Tifa asked, a look of concern coming over her pretty face.

"He's fine." Yuffie said, rolling her eyes. "We'll be back." She turned and went after the gunman.

She found him just outside the town limits, under the tree she knew he and Lucrecia had sat under at some point in his youth.

"Vince?" She said, quietly sitting down next to him. His head was staring downward at the pictures Marlene and Denzel had made for him.

"Vinnie, everyone's worried about you." She said, nudging him.

He closed his eyes, his forehead wrinkling in some unusual emotion that was welling up in him.

"I...apologize." He said. "I..just..."

"You were overwhelmed. I think we get it." Yuffie said, smiling. "You're used to being the one doing the saving, aren't you? You don't get a lot of people doing things for you."

Vincent frowned and looked away.

"Vinnie, you deserve this. If you didn't, you wouldn't have this many people who care about you pulling together to make an awesome surprise for you. Look, now you have a place to live where you don't have to have nightmares every night." She smiled knowingly. "Everyone over there cares about you. You're going to have to get used to it."

**- - - - - **

That night, Vincent carefully hung the artwork the children had drawn on the refrigerator using magnets that Tifa had bought. Every time he saw them, a small smile would come over his face.

Oddly enough, the second bedroom had been designed with Yuffie in mind. AVALANCHE seemed to intuitively guess that Yuffie was going to be staying with Vincent for a while, so they figured she might as well have a place there. It was made up in the Wutain style, which both comforted and annoyed her – she'd probably never get to see Wutai again, but on the other hand...it was kind of like having a piece of home to come home to.

Reeve had about fallen over apologizing to Vincent for putting him on the spot like that, which Vincent brushed off.

"I was...not expecting it." He said. "It was a good surprise. Thank you, Reeve." He thanked everyone else, too, apologizing for his reaction earlier. Everyone seemed to understand well enough, and a small party was held in honor of the "grand opening" of the house.

Oddly, his wanderlust faded every day that he was in the house. He wondered if it had something to do with the fact that it was his and no one else's, or if he just wanted to absorb the wonderful thing his friends had done for him.

There was wine and a few basic staples in the house, but the next day Yuffie went to the store and loaded up on comestibles and toiletries. She swore up and down that she'd be going to Edge soon, to go to the big bulk-food store that Tasha had a membership to. The kitchen was, indeed, a professional kitchen, with walk-in pantry and freezer – so that Vincent wouldn't have to go into town and interact with the townspeople as often. Yuffie was determined to fill both.

After two weeks of settling in, Vincent felt vaguely content, a feeling so unfamiliar to him that he had to ask Yuffie what it was.

"But Vinnie, shouldn't you be happy, and not just content?" Yuffie asked, her eyes wide. Vincent looked at her, and turned away.

Every night, Yuffie went into town for the NA meeting held behind the general store. During the hour and a half that she was gone, Vincent would ponder what it was that would make him happy instead of merely content. Every time he came up with one answer, an answer that just was not an option.

Yuffie. Yuffie would make him happy. And he didn't deserve her.

**- - - - - **

Yuffie was drawing.

She'd been doing that an awful lot lately. She wasn't sure why, the itch was just there, almost a constant. She'd drawn everything and everyone at some point.

Vincent featured a lot in her drawings. That may seem odd to some people, but it wasn't – he was just the person she was around most. They did live together, after all.

Every picture she drew, she hung up on her one blank wall. It became a sort of collage. The picture she'd done of Chaos, the picture of Vincent sleeping. Pictures of Vincent frowning at things he didn't understand the purpose of (such as the blender Tifa had picked out – his eyes brightened when Yuffie showed him how to crush ice with it). Pictures of him sampling the wines Cid and Shera had gotten him. Pictures of him doing mundane things like cleaning or doing laundry or caring for the trees.

There were also pictures of other things. She drew the Nibel Mountains. She drew a picture of Aeris. She did a big picture of AVALANCHE all together in front of the old Shinra Mansion, based on the picture she'd taken the day it was demolished. There was a picture of the stray cat that would come by every morning to get munchies from her (she had a soft spot for cats), and a picture of Cloud and Tifa, who came by shortly after Tifa had gotten a sonogram of the new baby, which was indeed a boy.

But those pictures weren't anything compared to the ones of Vincent, simply because there were more of Vincent than anyone else, and each one grabbed at you.

Vincent, she thought, would probably be pissed if he ever came into her room, but he never did. She wondered about that, but then again, she never went into his room, either.

She finished what she was drawing (a picture of Vincent contemplating a stain on the carpet with a displeased look on his face) and, cutting off the fuzzies at the edge from the wire, tacked it up on her wall.

She smiled. Her impromptu collage was coming along nicely.

She could hear Vincent calling for her from the living room and walked out there, flipping off her light switch on the way out.

"Hey, what's up?" She asked.

Vincent held out her phone to her. "It was ringing so I answered it." He said. That in itself wasn't unusual; Vincent couldn't stand the sound of a ringing phone, especially hers because she had a particularly annoying ringtone. "It's Shera."

"Oh!" She grabbed the phone. "Hey, Shera, what's up?"

There were a few moments of garbled conversation, of which Vincent could only hear half, and then Yuffie hung up. "Shera and Cid are going into Edge to get some parts, and they said they'd take me to that bulk store I wanted to go to." She grinned. "That freezer isn't gonna be bare when I'm done with it!" She glanced at him. "Wanna come?"

Vincent shook his head no.

"Figured as much. You can clean, then." Yuffie smirked at him and flounced into her room to get her purse.

Vincent frowned at her and then headed to the closet where cleaning supplies were stored.

**- - - - - **

Vincent was dreading the amount of things Yuffie was going to bring back. They'd been gone several hours now and he figured that meant mountains of frozen foods.

He'd cleaned the entire house top-to-bottom except for Yuffie's bedroom and bathroom. Out of boredom, he was going there now to clean.

He paused outside of her door, realizing that he'd never actually been in Yuffie's bedroom since Reeve had given the the grand tour several months ago. He shrugged and opened the door, and was immediately confronted with all of Yuffie's sketches.

There were a lot of other people, but there were also quite a few of him. It vaguely annoyed him and greatly disturbed him to see himself; it wasn't the fact that Yuffie had drawn him. That in itself did not bother him at all. He didn't like seeing pictures of himself because it reminded him of what he'd become, versus what he had been.

What bothered him most, however, was the picture of Chaos. He didn't know when Yuffie had drawn that but he didn't like it, at all.

He glared at the picture one last time before launching himself into a full-scale cleaning attack on Yuffie's bedroom and bathroom. Vincent was a bit of a neat freak about the house; even in the old mansion he'd been a nutjob about keeping the bedroom neat and tidy, if a bit dusty. He'd quickly gotten used to cleaning.

However, his familiarity with cleaning didn't prepare him for things like finding Yuffie's dirty laundry scattered everywhere. He was scandalized and embarrassed to be picking up her thong panties and short shorts.

Those he threw into a hamper without really thinking about them. If he did think about them he'd start to think about things a sixty-year-old man ought to not think about a girl in her early twenties.

Once he was done cleaning, he took her laundry to the laundry room and started washing them. Only then did he realize he was bored without her around.

All of the household chores were done, and there was nothing to do and no one to talk to. He slowly wandered back to her room and gazed at her collage, noting how she captured things well with the pencil. Despite his dislike of the Chaos picture, it was very well-done, and he found himself looking at it quite intently for a while, before moving his attention to the one he'd already seen, of him asleep.

Really, did his face relax like that in sleep? He frowned at the picture and moved closer, standing almost on tiptoe to reach it. Did his lip really stick out like that? He looked almost childlike.

"Vincent, what are you doing?" Yuffie asked, suddenly. His eyes widened and he whirled around, almost falling over in his haste to face her. She was standing at her doorway with her hands on her hips.

"Uhhh..." He said intelligently.

She raised her eyebrow and then took in the room. "Holy shit, you really did clean EVERYTHING." Then she blushed. "Uh, where's all my dirty clothes?"

"Washing." He said. He'd hoped she wouldn't be home by the time he was done with them.

She blushed an even further red. "So...everything's washing?"

"Everything." He confirmed. If he were any less dignified he'd be blushing as well.

"Okay, well...you're done! Come help me unpack this stuff. Shera and Cid helped me unload it, but it's heavy." She rubbed her shoulder grumpily and gestured to him.

Vincent nodded and followed her, feeling almost like a scolded child.

**- - - - - **

"Exactly...how much did you spend at that store, Yuffie?" Vincent asked, visibly balancing himself on a chair out of shock.

"Over a thousand gil!" Yuffie exclaimed. The entire living room was filled with purchases. "It's not all food, they have other stuff. I got some DVD's and a phone for the house and some other stuff. And a TV. You should think about getting one of Rufus' satellite dishes. Apparently it's loads better than cable."

Vincent gaped.

"I'm gonna start sorting it out. Food goes in the kitchen, and I'll put it away. Everything else just leave out here. Some of this stuff, you might not know what it is."

He frowned at her and she laughed.

"Let's face it, Vincent. You haven't exactly gotten yourself up to speed with modern appliances. Now's your chance!" She frowned slightly. "Also, I think I'm gonna get a computer. You should too."

Vincent frowned at her and she rolled her eyes. "You know all that stuff you were going ga-ga about at Cosmo Canyon? Most of it's online now."

With that, she started digging through her purchases and sorting them out. Vincent frowned at her and followed suit. He had no idea what half of the stuff was, but he was fairly certain that if it was vegetable manner, canned, or frozen, it was food, and he started with those things.

It took Yuffie two hours to sort through everything and get the food put away. Taking stock of the now-filled walk-in pantry and freezer, and the overstuffed refrigerator, Vincent made a comment about surviving meteorfall.

"That's the point, Vinnie!" Yuffie said, smiling.

At this point Vincent was exhausted. Moving six hundred gil's worth of groceries will do that to a man. He went into his room and took off his cloak and shirt, and shoes, preparing to take a shower, when Yuffie knocked at his door.

Unusual, but not unheard of. He opened the door and the ninja swept in, holding some sort of machine.

"I got this for you, Vinnie!" She said, grinning.

He looked at it. "...What is it?" He asked. The confusion was evident in his voice.

"Uh, it's a clock, Vincent." She said, holding the box up. It looked like no clock he had ever owned before; a digital display and all sorts of other gadgets. "It also plays CD's and stores MP3's, which we have none of because we have no computers." She went to set it on his nightstand, where there were only two things: a picture of her, and his phone.

She frowned and picked up the picture frame. "Where'd you get this?" She asked. It was of her shortly after the Deepground incident. She didn't know when it had been taken.

Vincent shrugged and looked away from her. For some reason she felt awkward and set it down, wondering what was going on, exactly. "Well, anyway, when we get some computers I'll show you how to load it up with songs, okay?" She grinned. "Do you want to see what else I bought?"

Vincent looked at her for a moment and nodded. "I will be out in a second." He said.

She smiled and left the room.

Vincent sat on his bed and picked up the frame from where she'd left it. In truth, he'd taken the picture at Tifa's request – it had been from a series of group shots. He'd given most of the others away but this one had never found it's way to Yuffie because she hadn't been around for him to give it to. It was one of his most prized possessions, along with his gun and the ring Yuffie had given him for Christmas last year.

He put it back in it's place and stood up, wandering into the living room. Despite the fact that they'd spent literally two hours shuffling things, the pile looked as if it hadn't lessened at all. To make matters worse, he walked out and saw that Yuffie was digging through the pile, and he had an excellent view of her rear end.

He looked upward and sighed. If there was a God, He was surely tormenting him.

Yuffie turned in his direction and grinned. "I know, tons of stuff, huh? Hey, check out this DVD player I got. It plays all kinds of stuff!"

And so Vincent allowed himself to be led on a tour of all of the appliances Yuffie had bought, wondering when he'd ever use them, and vaguely wishing he hadn't agreed to it in the first place.

**- - - - - **

That night Yuffie was on the couch, watching DVD's she'd purchased. "Seriously, Vincent, we ought to get that satellite thingie I was talking about."

Vincent, also on the couch, shrugged. He could live without television, honestly.

He was tired. He'd never gotten to sleep, or even to his shower. More than anything he wanted to just go to sleep, but unfortunately he felt that it was important to Yuffie that he show an interest in the things she'd bought. He didn't, at the moment, but he didn't like letting the younger girl down.

Yuffie turned and smiled at him, and it was worth it. He stifled a yawn.

"Are you tired, Vinnie?" Yuffie asked. Vincent shrugged again.

"I'm a little tired, too." The ninja admitted. She smiled at him. "This movie's almost over; let's go to bed after, okay?"

Vincent nodded, blinking fast to keep his eyes open.

As it happened, the movie wasn't quite almost over, and he dozed off before the end. When he awoke, the DVD was at the title screen and Yuffie was asleep, curled up with her head on his lap.

He wondered how long he'd been asleep for; glancing at one of the clocks Yuffie had bought, he saw that several hours had passed.

He turned off the DVD player with the remote control, and the TV, then carefully extracted himself from under Yuffie's head and picked her up. He managed to open the door to her room without waking her, and get her on her bed.

The moon shone through her window and Vincent found himself completely startled by how beautiful she looked, lit up like that. Her long hair sparkled and her face was relaxed in sleep. He drew the blankets around her and, unable to stop himself, brushed a lock of hair out of her face. She stirred and her eyes opened, looking up into his.

She smiled at him. "Hey, Vinnie." She said, sleepily. She stretched.

She was gorgeous. He frowned. "Good night, Yuffie." He turned and left.

Yuffie sat up, sleepily, and stared after him. Vincent...had changed. A lot. Obviously, he'd changed since they met him so long ago, and he'd changed since the silver haired men and Deepground. But even since she'd gotten clean...was it almost a year ago, already?...he'd changed so much. It was almost like he was _more_ depressed, instead of less. It didn't make sense. Everything he wanted, he had.

What was it, then, that Vincent wanted so much? Yuffie frowned, concerned for her friend – her best friend, if she had to be honest with herself. He was already so morose, being more so was not a good thing.

She vowed to find out what it was that was causing Vincent pain. And she was going to get up super early tomorrow and make breakfast!

If a Yuffie breakfast didn't cheer him up, she'd know something was amiss. Smiling to herself, she lay back in bed and fell fast asleep.

**- - - - - **

Yuffie woke up a full hour early. It was just barely light outside; the sun was peeking over the Nibel mountains and birds were just beginning to wake up and make noise. It was going to be a hot day.

She paused at Vincent's bedroom and shoved her ear to the door. The light sound of snoring penetrated – Vincent was still asleep. Good.

She made a huge breakfast – pancakes, scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy. She knew from their camping days that Vincent generally woke up hungry, and very much so. She, used to exercising first thing in the morning, generally didn't begin to get hungry until a few hours after she woke up.

However, by the time she'd set out the coffee (she had, after living with Vincent for several months, developed a taste for it) and juice, and had everything on the table, was ravenous herself. A glance at the clock told her it had taken an hour and a half.

She heard a pattering and knew Vincent was awake. He stumbled out, guided by his nose, in a pair of black pajama pants and nothing else. His eyes were half-shut and he obviously was seeking coffee.

She giggled and shoved him in the direction of the breakfast table.

Vincent honestly couldn't recall the last time he'd had a meal that tasted this good going down, but he was pretty sure it was before he'd gone to sleep for thirty years. Who knew Yuffie could cook non-Wutain food this well?

"Tasha taught me." Yuffie said, obviously pleased with herself. She was scarfing too. When the two of them were done, very little leftover food remained. Yuffie gathered it up to give to her stray.

Vincent drank more coffee. He needed it. It was eight in the morning and he didn't want to be awake.

A thought occurred to him. He didn't need to be awake. Why not just go back to sleep?

Smiling to himself, he got up and stumbled to the couch, yawning and laying down. That he wouldn't normally go back to sleep after waking up didn't occur to him, and that the couch wasn't normally where he slept didn't, either.

After all, Vincent Valentine doesn't get sick. Right?

**- - - - - **

"Obviously he's got some sort of flu or something." A voice was saying. "What I want to know is where the hell he picked it up from. It's one hell of a flu, but none of _us_ can catch it."

"Is he going to be alright?" A worried voice said. That was Yuffie, he knew. He'd know her voice anywhere. "It wasn't something I fed him, was it?"

A laugh. "Probably not. I haven't seen anything like this in years. More than likely someone who was a carrier just passed through, and Vincent just happened to be the only person nearby who wasn't immune to it. That's the only thing I can think of – this is an airborne disease. Cooking kills this kind of bug."

Vincent stirred and tried to talk. He was really very thirsty.

A bunch of incoherent mumblings came to his ears and he realized that it was him. Yuffie, however, seemed to be able to translate these mumblings, because instantly a glass of ice water was at his side, a straw placed to his lips.

"So, in all actuality, it's probably better that you fed him a lot of food right before he passed out." The voice said. Vincent finally recognized it was Tasha. "Gave his body the strength to fight back. He could have died otherwise."

"Okay." Yuffie said. Her voice shook a little bit.

"Tonight, just leave him here on the couch. Clean his room with some of that air-spray bleach stuff, get him all new, bleached sheets and clean blankets, and move him in there tomorrow. Make sure he eats plenty and drinks lots of juice – we want him to sleep, so no coffee. Make sure he takes those vitamins I brought, and give him the cold medicine if he can't sleep. Put the vap-o-rub on his chest and under his nose, too. He'll have problems breathing otherwise." Vincent could hear the smile in Tasha's voice. "He's going to be very irritable and restless while healing, too. He seems the type. You might want to move the DVD player and TV into his room so that he'll have something to do. Holding up a book will make him tire very easily."

"You got it!" Yuffie said. Tasha left; Vincent could hear the door slamming.

"Oh, Vinnie, you scared me!" Yuffie said. She was almost crying. She brushed sweat off his face and leaned against it, her forehead to his, shaking with the fear she'd felt when she'd walked in and found Vincent convulsing on the couch in his sleep.

Vincent, for his part, felt horrible; that hot-cold-hot-cold feeling the sick often get, coupled with a dry, scratchy throat and stuffed sinuses. And the prurient part of him couldn't wait for Yuffie to spread the menthol gel on his chest.

Hey, he was helpless, or else he'd do it himself – why couldn't he enjoy it a little bit, too?

He immediately knew something was terribly wrong with him when he thought that part. He remembered reading somewhere that sickness had roughly the same equivalent effect on your inhibitions as alcohol and mentally swore.

But he really couldn't wait for the menthol stuff, because his sinuses were so stuffed he was breathing through his mouth, which contributed to the dry scratchy throat. He was thirsty again, and he could barely move.

He didn't want to move or make a noise, though, because Yuffie's forehead against his was so comforting that it almost gave him the strength to move.

"Okay, Vinnie." Yuffie said, moving away from him. She sounded like she'd been crying. "I'm gonna sit you up, here. You have to open your eyes and take these pills, and then drink some juice. Okay?"

Vincent felt her moving him up, a feat which greatly impressed him. He knew how much he weighed; Yuffie was quite strong if she could shift his bulk.

It took so much effort to open his eyes. It was so much harder than beating Sephiroth. But finally he accomplished it and fought to keep his eyes open instead of slamming shut.

Yuffie smiled. "Hey, Vince." She said, softly. Her face was puffy, and he had confirmation that she'd been crying. He felt guilty, but he didn't have much time to dwell on it because Yuffie popped an assortment of pills into his mouth, one by one. It would have been sensual except that it was medicine and he was very, very ill.

With effort, he swallowed the pills with the juice leftover from breakfast, and then Yuffie put the menthol stuff on his nose and chest. Despite the fact that he felt so horrible, the sight of Yuffie rubbing anything on him put him in a rather uncomfortable position, and he was quite happy to slump over onto his chest to sleep, hiding the evidence of his sudden erection.

"You should probably sleep on your back, Vince." Yuffie said, tenderly. "Then you'll smell the menthol gel." She went to turn him over and he protested as best as he could.

"Nnnng!" He said, loudly.

"Oh, come on, Vinnie." She said. "You're what, 29? Stop acting like a baby." She flipped him over.

"Nnng!" He protested again, hopelessly. This time it was about his age, which he thought she knew.

Things don't exactly make sense when you're as sick as Vincent was.

He heard a shocked intake of breath and then Yuffie quickly smoothed his hair out of the way of his forehead, and tucked a blanket around him. "There. All better." She said, gulping, before flicking off the light and leaving.

If Vincent were able to, he'd have hit his forehead with his hand. Now, he just did what it was he could do.

"Ehhhhhh..."

**- - - - - **

Yuffie had been shocked to see Vincent with an erection, of course, but she wasn't so stupid as to know that being sick did weird things to your body functions. She didn't really think much of it; she just figured this was a good chance to find out what was bothering Vincent.

He was incapacitated, and most likely asleep. She felt bad for snooping, of course, but it was all toward a better cause.

However, she found it hard to stick to the plan as her mind kept going back to the, frankly, awe-inspiring view. Vincent was...rather well-endowed. Yuffie, being no virgin, had no doubts in her mind that his lithe frame would be just as good in areas other than fighting.

Gulping, she pushed that thought back. Since when did she want to do Vincent?

Wait, what? When did it go into her wanting to do him? She'd just been distracted by an awesome piece of human anatomy. She never said she wanted to do anything with him.

The thought, however, didn't entirely disgust her, and that bothered her deeply.

She shook her head to rid herself of the image, and resolutely pushed the door to his bedroom open, searching for the journal she'd bought him so many months ago.

She finally found it in the easiest place to hide it: between his mattress ad box spring. She snorted; Even Vincent could be predictable.

She did feel bad at picking the lock and flipping through the pages, but she wanted to know what was bothering him, so she could help him, and she highly doubted he'd tell her.

So she flipped through a couple of pages before she came to a drawing.

It was a drawing of her. She was winking at whoever was off the page, holding her Conformer behind her head like an axe as she prepared to bound off toward whatever was ahead. She had no idea if it was a scene from Vincent's memory or a complete fiction, but it was a good drawing of her and she was startled to see it there.

She flipped through the pages and saw more drawings, all of her in different poses. She was always smiling in them, although sometimes it was a sad smile.

Finally, actual journal entries. The first one was dated the day the house had been given to him; he wrote about how he had felt uncomfortable being on the spot like that and taken off, and how bad he felt about it, and how she'd come and made him feel better.

The next words startled, scared, and amazed her.

_"It's just more proof that I don't deserve a woman like Yuffie." _He'd written. _"She's so good and sweet – she always has been. She doesn't have to love me back; she just has to be there, and I'll be happy."_

Yuffie gasped and the book fell from her hands to the floor.

Vincent loved her?

Suddenly, all of the clues she'd ignored forced themselves to the forefront of her mind. Vincent, making sure she was safe even when she didn't want to be safe. Vincent, saving her from that guy in Gongaga. Vincent, inviting her to go with him in Edge. Vincent, making absolutely sure she was comfortable every night. Vincent, insisting she should have the bed in the mansion, and not he. Vincent, and his obviously feigned interest in all of the things she'd bought yesterday. And, of course, the most recent development of his ...ahem... jumpy anatomy.

No wonder he'd been so depressed. He loved her, and he didn't think the feeling was returned.

She gathered up the journal and securely locked it, putting it exactly where she'd found it, as if it had never been disturbed. Then she paused.

Vincent was depressed because he loved her and didn't think the feeling was returned.

Why had she mentally inserted that "think" there? Why would he have any reason to think the feeling was returned?

Because, of course, she loved him.

The realization that she'd fallen in love with Vincent Valentine hit her in the stomach like someone had sucker punched her. She leaned against his bed and tried to regain her breath, tears coming to her eyes from the pain of oxygen deprivation. When had this happened, and why didn't she expect it more?

She'd called _him_ when she hit rock bottom, hadn't she? Every time he'd met her after a meeting she'd felt giddily excited; she'd thought it was because she was sober and happy, but it was because Vincent was there and she was glad to see him at any time. She'd come with him from Edge because she didn't want to not be around him, and she'd gotten breakfast set up for him that day in the mansion because she knew it'd please him. She'd done the same thing this morning. She'd encouraged him to knock down the mansion because she knew it'd lift a great weight off his shoulders.

So why hadn't she realized it a long time ago? Of course she loved Vincent. It seemed so natural that denying it was the dumbest thing she could possibly do, and yet, the concept was so new and novel that she was reduced to gasping for breath.

When she finally regained control of her diaphragm, she tiptoed out of his room and silently shut the door, then went to the living room and watched him sleep.

Even in sickness, he was calm and quiet when he slept. Just like in her drawing of him, he looked like an angel. She wanted to wake him and tell him her sudden revelation, but she was shy and jumpy about it. She worried about him, and she worried that if she loved him and then lost interest, it would break him. How did one know, after all, that the love they felt was lasting?

She shivered and walked over toward him, brushing his hair out of his face and exposing it to the moonlight. God, how could she have ever denied not loving his face?

She leaned over and kissed his forehead, softly so that he wouldn't wake up, feeling tears beneath her eyelids as she knew she wouldn't tell him until she was sure she loved him as he loved her. A part of her felt that she'd never be happy without him, but she also knew that she was stronger than that. She had to be. For Vincent's sake.

_Author's notes: DEAR GOD. This chapter took FOREVER to write. BUT FINALLY! It seems to me like it just drew out and drew out. I covered nearly six months in this one chapter, hence it being 18 pages in NeoOffice. I hope everyone liked it, but as always, I'm open to CONSTRUCTIVE criticism._

_Also, I've noticed that a few of the people reading this story seem to be younger. That wouldn't bother me except that eventually, this story will contain lemon. Possibly even in the next chapter. So please, kiddos; either stop reading this story, or for God's sake, don't get caught reading it. will skin me alive.  
_

_Read? Review!_


	9. Crash and Burn

**Diamonds and Guns**

_**Chapter Nine – Crash and Burn**_

_If you wanna live life on your own terms  
You gotta be willing to crash and burn_

-- Motley Crüe, _Primal Scream_

Vincent's recovery took far longer than Tasha had predicted, considering his enhanced body. Then again, Tasha had never expected the former Turk to get sick in the first place.

Three days after Vincent had taken ill, he felt well enough to sit up and eat the broth Yuffie prepared for him. Day one he'd had to be carried to the bathroom by Cid Highwind, who had flown Tasha over for he examination, and who was very politely trying not to laugh. After that he was situated in his bedroom, much to his relief.

Day two he threw up everything he'd eaten to that point (just broth and crackers) all over the very nice, hardwood floors Cloud had picked out. Luckily for him Yuffie heard and came running, and cleaned it up instantly, or else it might have stained. The ninja made no mention of the incident to him, during or after, for which he was immensely grateful.

So after a week of this, Tasha returned. She'd taken her Physicians Assistant test while Yuffie was recovering, and could now write prescriptions. Which she did, once she took a look at the test results from the samples she'd taken the week prior.

"You need an immediate antibiotic and something to help keep your pain level down, as well as something to keep you from puking." Tasha said, frowning at Vincent, who looked up at her weakly. He'd said nothing about the pain; it was in fact negligible to the pain he regularly experienced because of Hojo and Lucrecia's experiments. Somehow Tasha knew. "The first doses will have to be administered by me because they're intravenous." She looked back down at the folder she'd shoved everything into. "Let's get Vincent hooked up to an IV so he doesn't dehydrate, and so I can give him his first dose. If I weren't here I'd recommend taking him to a hospital. As it is, I'm kind of in the dark here. The modifications make it hard to tell what to do." She sighed and looked at Yuffie. "When you called and told me he wasn't better yet, I got some stuff ready. It's probably best to keep me on-hand for the next few days. I can stay at the inn..."

"Nonono, Reeve had that guest area built for a reason." Yuffie said, waving her hands in front of her. It made Vincent chuckle, which turned into a very heavy cough because of his irritated throat lining. Instantly Tasha was by his side, looking very concerned for a girl with short, cropped, dyed hair and multiple piercings. She pried his mouth open (which alarmed Vincent greatly) and aimed a spray of something toward the back of his throat.

His next cough didn't materialize, which he was very grateful for; however, the fact that Tasha had shoved her fingers into his mouth with little regard for the fact that they were very sharp alarmed him to a level he couldn't describe.

Then he realized that Tasha couldn't possibly know about his teeth, or any of the other oddities about his physical presence. He sighed.

"What's wrong, Vincent?" Yuffie asked. She leaned over and listened to Vincent's mutterings, which was about all he could muster nowadays.

Tasha watched all of this with a confused look on her face, and then shrugged. "I'm going to go get my things, and my medical bag." She stated, leaving the room.

Yuffie cleared her throat as she straightened up, watching Tasha's retreating form. "Are you sure about this, Vincent?" She asked. Vincent nodded, his eyes drooping from the effort.

**- - - - - **

"Oh, that'd be awesome." Tasha said, sighing with relief as she dropped her baggage onto the floor in the guest room Yuffie led her to. She'd brought a small bag containing clothing and toiletries, and a few rather large bags containing rudimentary medical equipment and medicines. She grabbed the first one and walked back toward Vincent's room. "Having access to the files Hojo and Lucrecia left would definitely clear things up and make me better able to take care of him."

"Vincent suggested it." Yuffie said. Tasha stopped and searched the younger girl's face, then frowned and continued walking.

"Well, I'm going to go get this IV set up and then I can read them." She said. "IV's are the same on humans and animals, pretty much, so long as you can see a vein. It's a good thing you can get to both sides of the bed, or else I'd have to jury-rig it for his arm." She smiled at the younger girl and pushed Vincent's door open.

He was exactly as they'd left him. "Also, Yuffie, I'll have to undress him a bit." Tasha said. "Just down to some pajama pants or something. I'm glad he disposed of the cloak, but I still can't get to the bits of him I need to examine, and his shirt is really too heavy for him to be wearing anyway. He'll need a bath at this point, too." She wrinkled her nose.

"Vincent doesn't have any pajama pants." Yuffie said, frowning. She repressed a surge of jealousy that Tasha was going to see him mostly naked.

Tasha grinned. "I figured as much. I borrowed some from Cid on the way here." She glanced at Vincent, who's expression had become very alarmed and wide-eyed. "Jesus, Vincent, I'm a medical professional here. I'm not going to peek at your naughty bits or anything." She rolled her eyes. "In case you've forgotten, I'm married."

"I'll...do...it." Vincent said, obviously struggling to say the words loudly enough for the two girls to hear. He went to get up and collapsed, almost falling off the bed.

"I don't think so." Tasha said. She and Yuffie had captured the man and manhandled him back into the bed. "Jeez, you're heavy."

Yuffie snorted.

"Yuffie, help him up, we'll get him into the bathroom." Tasha said, gesturing to his other side. She struggled to lift him and slung his claw arm over her shoulder. "We don't have to bathe him, I've got a shower seat in my things in the living room."

Yuffie was blushing, and obviously glad she didn't have to take part in that exercise.

"But you'll have to stay in the room in case something happens." Tasha said. They'd been guiding the gunman toward the bathroom. "Here, sit him on the toilet and keep him up while I go get it." The girl ran from the room.

"Yuffie..." Vincent began.

Yuffie shook her head, still blushing. "Don't even start it, Vincent. You're sick. Someone has to take care of this kind of thing, even if you can't. You've gotta stay clean to get healthy."

"Here it is." Tasha said, reappearing with an odd metal contraption. She set it in the bathtub, smiling at her foresight. "If it's a huge issue, Vincent, I can call Cid in to help you undress."

Vincent's eyes grew even wider and both girls laughed at his obvious distress, trying very hard to cover it up with a series of coughs.

He vehemently protested (for him, anyway – he wasn't able to do much more than say that he'd do it and slump over the side of the toilet) throughout the process, leading Tasha to call Yuffie in to help keep him up, which only added to his distress.

When he was down to his underwear, Tasha and Yuffie navigated him to the seat in the bathtub. "Yuffie, stand behind him and prop him up for a sec." Tasha said. She reached around Vincent and moved a seat rest up, supporting him. Then she had Yuffie hold a sheet over him while she extracted his underwear.

"See? All worried over nothing." Tasha said. She tossed his boxers back into his bedroom and briskly shook out a pair of pajama pants, which she laid out over the back of the toilet. While she was looking away, the sheet slipped, and Yuffie hastily grabbed it up and covered Vincent back up. She had to maintain some form of dignity for him.

Then again, she couldn't resist the urge to peek. Just a bit.

She set Vincent's hands over the sheet so it stayed in place, and closed the opaque shower curtain, flicking the sheet off of Vincent once it was closed.

Then Tasha peeked in and turned on the water, adjusting it to Yuffie's commands, as she was listening to Vincent mutter from the other side of the shower curtain.

"There. I'm going to go set some things up in his room. Where do you keep the clean sheets?" Tasha asked. Yuffie told her and then the older woman left.

"Jeez, Vincent." Yuffie said, sitting on the closed toilet. "You sure can be a pain sometimes." She let the tone of her voice convey that it was a joke. "You obviously haven't dealt with a doctor in a long time. Good thing you're not a girl; you'd _hate_ gynecologists."

A snort issued from the shower and Yuffie grinned.

Vincent hated to admit it, but a shower, no matter how exhausting, felt great. He slowly cleaned the parts of himself that he could reach. The realization that he could not wash his hair made him greatly upset, as he knew it'd tangle. He made a small noise of protest before he could stop himself.

"What's wrong?" He could hear Yuffie stand and lean over, listening for his reply.

"Hair. Can't wash it." He said, with great effort.

"Oh. Here, let me get it." Yuffie said. She pushed the curtain away and peeked in behind Vincent, making it obvious that she couldn't see anything important, and grabbed his shampoo.

Vincent didn't protest as hard as she'd expected him to; a vague groan and then he was silent. She smiled and rubbed the shampoo into his hair, enjoying the experience more than she felt she should.

Then she grabbed a metal comb from his sink and worked conditioner through it, keeping silent as she forced the substance through tangles and pulled his hair straight.

The experience was actually quite relaxing for both of them; Yuffie wasn't sitting there busily feeling guilty about the images running through her head, and Vincent was getting the equivalent of a petting. In fact, it so relaxed him that he almost dozed off.

"There. All done." Yuffie said, smiling. "I'll let you wash it out now." She closed the curtain and returned the comb to it's place, listening to the sounds of Vincent rinsing off.

Yuffie had been working so hard to try to get Vincent better, so anything that might help, she was game for. But she couldn't help imaging the frontal view of Vincent, covered in water, naked, and the thought sent a blush to her face and a guilty feeling through her mind.

Vincent, for his part, was thoroughly embarrassed by the experience, but was smart enough to understand the need for it. It didn't make it any less arousing. Luckily, he was too tired to get an erection.

"Done." Vincent said. Yuffie just barely caught it.

"Okay, hang on." Yuffie said. She leaned out the bathroom door. Tasha was just finishing the process of cleaning up the room, changing the sheets, and setting up the medical equipment, and Yuffie called out to her.

"Hey, he's done." She said.

Tasha looked over. "Oh, good. Go ahead and turn off the water. Might wanna put his hair up in a towel or something, it's long as hell. I'll be in in a second."

Yuffie nodded and returned to the shower, reaching in and turning the water off by feel. Then she grabbed a towel from the cabinet above the toilet and paused. How to do this?

"Vincent, I have to put your hair in a towel so we can dry you off." She said. Embarrassment filled her. "I won't peek. I promise."

A long pause, and then Vincent made a noise of assent. Yuffie slowly pushed the shower curtain aside, and, as promised, kept her eyes on Vincent's face, his eyes half-lidded and his jaw slack from exhaustion.

She carefully tipped his head forward and pulled his hair into a towel turban, which would have been funny at any other time except that Vincent was so sick that she had to do it for him. That sobered her thoughts and she was able to complete the job and cover Vincent with another towel from the waist down without glancing downward.

"Oh, good." Tasha said, walking in. "You got him ready. Okay, let's put that towel down under him so we can dry him off, okay?" Tasha said, reaching for the towel and Vincent's arm to help heft him.

Yuffie thought Vincent would die of mortification. She sighed and helped Tasha continue her ministrations, whispering apologies into the man's ear as she did so.

"Mkay. Got any more towels?" Tasha asked, glancing around. Yuffie pointed at the cabinet and Tasha got a towel for each of them. "Okay, let's get this over with. Make it less uncomfortable for him if we just go fast at it." She smiled down at Vincent sympathetically, but of course he couldn't see her.

The two women began drying Vincent off, starting at his head and moving down his torso. Yuffie worked fast and she was the first to reach his pelvis.

She looked up at Vincent and deliberately shut her eyes so he'd see she was trying to be considerate of his privacy. Toweling down his private parts would definitely rank high in her memories from this day forward, though.

When they were done, Yuffie grabbed the pajama pants and negotiated Vincent's legs into them, pulling them up as fast as possible. Suddenly Tasha heaved him upward so she could pull them over his hips, and Yuffie was confronted with a part of Vincent she'd been so careful to not glance at for fear of embarrassing him.

She yelped and closed her eyes. "Sorry." Tasha gasped out. "Just hurry, he's heavy."

Yuffie hastily complied, closing her eyes. Didn't help much, as the image danced before her closed eyelids almost tantalizingly.

They got him out of the bathroom and in the bedroom, where Yuffie toweled off his hair and brushed it out with a hairbrush, pulling out tangles and basically calming Vincent down after the earlier incident. It ranked near discovering Chaos was a part of him in fright levels, seeing his bits shoved so close to Yuffie's face without any control over the process.

Because really, he wouldn't mind it so much, except that it was to take care of him, and not for erotic reasons.

When they were finally satisfied that he was clean and attended to, his hair had been brushed dry by a very considerate Yuffie (who was just simply more comfortable sitting behind him after their close encounter) and Tasha had brought in some more medical equipment.

"While you were showering I went to the pharmacy and got the meds I need." She said, picking up a vial on Vincent's nightstand. "Had a glance at those files, I think this stuff'll help. And next time I decide to shove my fingers into your mouth, you might wanna warn me that you have fangs, buster." She set the vial down. "Anyway...we may have a problem on our hands because I don't think either of you is going to like something."

Yuffie settled Vincent down in the bed and flicked the comforter over him, looking up at Tasha while she did so. "What?"

"Well, Vincent is having stomach issues, and I need to give him a narrow-spectrum antibiotic, which is going to irritate his stomach further. Unless we want him puking up bile, we have to give him something to quell the nausea." She hesitated. "...The only thing on the market that'll do the job right is medical marijuana."

"No!" Yuffie reacted violently, backing up into the wall. "No way. Nuh-uh."

Vincent even grunted his opinion. It was mostly unintelligible and Tasha and Yuffie both got the feeling it was a negatory comment as well.

"Look, guys, I'm not too happy about it either." Tasha said, frowning. "You know how I feel about illicit drugs. But nothing else will help as well as it does. It will quell the nausea and best of all, it'll make him thirsty and hungry, and he'll be able to keep the stuff down. He needs that right now. It also dulls pain, so I don't have to give him anything addictive for that."

"No way. I'm not letting anyone get Vincent stoned." Yuffie said. Then she stopped and giggled. "As funny as it would be..."

Tasha's face softened. "I know, Yuffie. You're scared. I get it. You don't want to be tempted. And that's good, really, it is. But it's what he needs."

"It'll make him cough!" Yuffie protested, sobering up.

"No, it won't. I have a vaporizer for it. It attaches to a face mask, and it's just moist air." Tasha said. "I got it at a head shop on the way back from the pharmacy."

"No. I can't...I can't..." Yuffie was having a small nervous breakdown at the thought of coming into contact with any kind of drug again.

"Look, Yuffie, if it'll make you feel better, I'd keep the stuff with me, locked down in my special case." Tasha said. Yuffie shook her head, sliding down the wall and crumbling into a small pile against the floor. She clenched her hands and her fingernails dug small crescent holes into her palms.

"I'm a thief, I could pick a lock." Yuffie said, hiccuping. She really was terrified.

Tasha shook her head. "Not this lock. Trust me." She smiled, almost ferally, like she did whenever she was talking about technology. "I made it myself. The moment someone tries to pick the lock, it sounds an alarm and sends out a radio signal." She pointed at her neck. "The radio signal activates the alarm on my necklace, no matter where I am on the planet. The alarm at the lock gets gradually louder until you stop touching the lock. It can knock a person out if they try too hard. Trust me, Yuffie, with my lock you won't get to the pot."

Yuffie bit her lip and looked downward, trying to stem her tears. "It's up to Vincent anyway, isn't it?" Tasha could tell that she was relenting.

She looked at Vincent and smiled, sadly. "So, what do you say, Vincent? Wanna get high?"

**- - - - - **

The vaporizer was like nothing Yuffie had ever seen in her days of doing drugs. She helped Tasha set it up and then took a seat on the far side of the room.

It had taken Tasha a good fifteen minutes to persuade Vincent into using this solution. He insisted, through Yuffie's translation of his muttering, that there had to be another medicine that could suppress his vomit reflex. Tasha brought Yuffie's laptop in and searched the 'Net for one, proving once and for all that while there were other things to use, nothing would work against the double threat of erythromycin on an empty stomach, plus an already upset stomach.

"You need food to make the erythromycin work, Vincent." Tasha had said. When he finally capitulated, she got to work.

The vaporizer almost looked like a bong. The base was round and bright pink, which amused Yuffie. It rose up about four inches and was topped with a glass bowl. That was where the similarity ended, though.

The bowl was enclosed, unlike a bong, and it encased a small metal pipe that rose through the center of the base and ended in a dish. A cord and a tube ran out of the base.

The tube, Tasha explained, was made to be smoked off of. Instead, she attached a small motor and a longer tube, which ran to a plastic breathing mask.

She explained that the vaporizer heated the product (and many different things could be smoked on it; she, for instance, had smoked tobacco off of one at some point, and described it as a fairly pleasant experience) but didn't burn it, so the THC and other products vaporized and could be sucked off, without getting the harmful lung full of smoke. Perfect for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, who needed a good nausea suppressant.

Yuffie was so nervous she lit a cigarette, something she had never done in the house before (when she smoked, which was getting increasingly rare, she did it outside), and something Vincent would normally not have tolerated in his bedroom. In this case, he didn't give a shit, because Tasha promised the stuff would stop his stomach from threatening to overturn yet again, and understandably Yuffie was distressed. He clearly recalled Cid lighting up more frequently while they were in times of duress.

Once Tasha had the whole thing set up, she took a box from the bag she'd put all of the medicine in. It had a number pad on it, and some sort of screen.

She pressed her finger on the screen and then punched a number in, too quick for Vincent or Yuffie to catch. It released with a hiss and she withdrew a single bud of marijuana.

Yuffie salivated and cursed herself for it.

Tasha put the bud on the dish and topped it with the glass jar. Then she turned the vaporizer on and put the face mask on Vincent, finally turning on the motor to blow the vapor into his face.

She closed the box definitively, sealing it with her fingerprint, and put it back in her bag. Then she looked at her watch.

"Should take about five minutes." She said. She then hooked Vincent up to the IV unit, a process that succeeded in distracting Yuffie from the fact that there was a lump of what looked to be prime smokable in smoking distance.

Tasha sat back in the chair Yuffie had brought in and crossed her arms, clearly intending on waiting for the drug to take effect. She had no intention, obviously, of leaving Yuffie in the room without supervision.

Yuffie mentally thanked her. She was still salivating, and she took a puff off her cigarette in an attempt to make her mouth dry.

"I'd go make up some healthy munchies." Tasha said to Yuffie, the corner of her mouth quirking. She looked displeased and Yuffie realized that she absolutely hated resorting to this.

"Like what?" Yuffie asked, standing up and edging toward the door, away from the pot.

"Fruit. Something with protein and carbs – maybe some sandwiches, cut up bite-sized. Juice. Water. You know how hungry he's going to be." Tasha smiled.

Yuffie nodded and retired to the kitchen, where she set about making up a huge snack platter for what was sure to be a very stoned Vincent Valentine.

**- - - - - **

When the mask came off, Vincent felt fine for a moment. He was about to tell Tasha that it hadn't worked when it hit him. Hard.

Vincent's experiences with drugs only included performance-enhancing drugs like cocaine and steroids, forced on him by Shinra. He'd never had any experience with something that dulled your senses like this, except for a brief run-in with morphine after he was shot in the line of duty.

It was...different.

First of all, it made him very sleepy and slow-feeling. His arms and legs felt heavy, and the idea of exerting the effort to move them felt like a huge task. Admittedly, it had been a huge task before, but now he didn't want to.

Next, he was suddenly very thirsty. He moved his tongue in his mouth and then slowly licked his lips.

Lastly, he was hit with what your average smoker would call "A huge case of the munchies." Vincent had been throwing up everything he ate for a week – his stomach was ready for food, and not the least bit upset.

"Okay, let's sit you up." Tasha said, smiling understandingly. She put her arm under his back and Vincent felt it. He could feel everything more than ever – every touch, every itch. His whole body seemed to tingle.

"Huh?" He asked.

Tasha laughed and lifted him up, putting him in a sitting position against his headboard. She handed him a glass of water. "Drink up."

Vincent grabbed at the glass; his arms worked about as well as before, which is to say – they didn't. Tasha put a straw in and held it up to his lips for him.

He downed the entire glass of water before he took a breath, gasping when he was finished. He wanted more.

"Calm down there, cowboy." Tasha said, chuckling and taking the empty cup. "Yuffie's on her way in with food and drink." She calmly began to disassemble the device, taking the leftover pot and locking it up securely.

When that was done she patted the bed near Vincent and smiled. "I'm gonna go put my stuff in my room. You sit here, Yuffie'll be here shortly."

She stood and Vincent watched her move, his eyes half-lidded and very dry-feeling. As she left the room he glanced down and saw his claw, which was suddenly very fascinating. He propped it, with great effort, in front of his face and examined every crack and crease on it, and then moved it to see if the weight shifted.

"...Vincent, what are you doing?" Yuffie asked from the doorway. She was holding an overlarge tray in her hands and Vincent could make out sandwiches and two pitchers, one of water and one of what looked to be orange juice. There was also an empty cup.

His mouth watered.

He set his claw down and blinked. Yuffie laughed outright and brought the tray to his nightstand, setting it down and sitting in the chair Tasha had so recently vacated.

"I'm hungry." He said, petulantly. Yuffie giggled. She had a feeling stoned Vincent was going to be a lot more amusing than normal Vincent. Now that the pot was gone and out of the room, she felt a lot better.

"And thirsty." He continued. He smacked his lips wonderingly and then looked up at the canopy over his bed.

"Vincent. Vincent, hey." Yuffie waved her hand in front of his face, and he followed it's path, finally letting his eyes stay on her face. "Stay with me, here."

"Okay. Can I eat?" He asked. His eyes wandered to the platter.

"Sure thing." Yuffie held out a piece of sandwich for him. He attempted to grab it and his arm barely moved. Yuffie laughed.

He frowned at her and then started staring at his canopy again. Yuffie rolled her eyes and instead poured him a glass of orange juice, which she put a straw in and held to his lips.

His eyes lit up and he sucked at the juice greedily. After a while Yuffie removed the cup and held out the sandwich piece again, holding it for him because his arms were useless.

Tasha came back and peeked into the door to be greeted with the sight of Yuffie diligently feeding Vincent. She smiled a little and cleared her throat, walking in.

"Now that Vincent has some food in his stomach, I'm going to give him the erythromycin" She said. She reached into her pocket and withdrew a syringe kit and the vial of medicine. She then did something with the syringe and the IV and left, closing the door securely behind her with a smile on her face.

Yuffie continued feeding Vincent until she felt he'd eaten enough, which was quite a while later. He was so stoned out of his gourd that he kept staring at things until Yuffie would wave something in his face, which would have been amusing in any other situation.

Vincent Valentine. Stoned. It was something she had a really hard time comprehending to herself. And yet it was right in front of her.

She kept getting that old itch, the desire to go out and get fucked up. And she kept pushing it aside, knowing Vincent needed care.

And the fact that he had a huge package helped quite a bit, too. She bit her lip as she set the tray down. Feeding him hadn't really helped suppress her desire to get into bed with him – watching his lips move around and such.

She composed herself and turned to Vincent, who seemed to be nodding off in a most uncomfortable position. She smiled and helped him lay down, giggling at the pajama pants Tasha had picked out – they had little bottles of Tabasco sauce all over them – and then tucked him in.

Vincent smiled as she tucked him in and looked up at her through half-closed eyes. "Pet me?" He asked in a small, pitiful voice.

Yuffie knew he'd never ask for something like that in his right mind, but...if Vincent found some sort of comfort in it...it wasn't leading him on to take care of him while he was sick, right?

She smiled down at him and lay down, stroking his hair softly as he fell asleep. He gave one last sigh before closing his eyes and beginning to take deep, even breaths.

She knew he wasn't entirely asleep yet, so she kept petting, softly, and was startled when he turned in his sleep and threw his arm (the one with the IV in it) over her and...cuddled her.

The concept was so foreign that she had to repeat it in her head. Vincent was cuddling her in his half-sleep. Vincent Valentine...was cuddling.

Vincent Valentine. Cuddling.

No, those words just did not seem to fit together. She shook her head.

He was mumbling in his sleep. Her name. Not erotically...lovingly. She closed her eyes and tried to fend off the pain she was feeling. She had to stop this.

As she thought that, his arm tightened around her. "Don't go." He whispered, pathetically. He was dead asleep; what dreams were causing this?

Maybe he was dreaming of Lucrecia. It would make more sense. She knew he loved her, but why would he tell her not to go in a dream? Why? When she'd stayed with him this long?

"Yuffie..." He murmured. There went that theory. He sounded like he was going to cry or something, and it was very depressing. She wanted to get up.

"I love you..." His words trailed off as he settled into a deeper sleep.

And then Yuffie started to cry.

Knowing and hearing were two different things. Hearing those three words come out of Vincent, even if he was asleep, scared her so much that she wanted to go force Tasha to give her the pot, or go hold up the medical marijuana place, or just go find someone who had a good teener to sell.

She buried her head into his shoulder and cried. It wasn't like he was awake to see it, and it felt so comforting. Almost natural.

Almost.

That was where Tasha found them the next morning; Vincent holding Yuffie in his sleep as if she were the most precious thing in the world, and Yuffie, curled up against him, eyelids still stained from crying.

**- - - - - **

Vincent recovered remarkably fast on the antibiotics. Three days after he started, Tasha was able to write him a prescription for oral medication, as his stomach had settled. This meant two things: One, Tasha was able to leave and go back to Rocket Town, where an engineering test was awaiting her (Cid had very patiently been postponing it until she was done tending to Vincent), and two, and more importantly to all involved, no more medical marijuana.

Also, Vincent could now walk with assistance, and undress and shower by himself. No more accidental flashings.

This was a huge boost to his dignity, as Tasha insisted on daily showers. Cleanliness brought health, she said. He had had to endure three more incidents of Yuffie and Tasha clearly seeing his buttocks and genitals, and it didn't settle well with him. Luckily, the two seemed inclined to never mention it. She left him the showering chair, saying she could pick it up next time the Shera was in Nibelheim.

Not that he minded Yuffie seeing his genitals, except that she seemed so horrified every time it happened. And, of course, that it was in a purely clinical setting. And Tasha was watching.

He was glad to be rid of the marijuana, too. It did things to him that he didn't enjoy. The first night he woke up clutching Yuffie like a stuffed animal. The second night, luckily, they left him in his room by himself, so they didn't see the arousal that resulted. Apparently, marijuana has an effect on the human libido. He read that on the 'Net.

He was taking a liking to Yuffie's laptop computer, which accessed the 'Net wirelessly. He was seriously considering getting one of his own. It had kept him entertained throughout his enforced stay in bed.

She didn't complain, instead going out and buying a desktop for the living room. "For anyone to use." She'd said.

A few days after Tasha left, Vincent felt well enough to walk around the house on his own. Still wearing Cid's outlandish pajama bottoms, he slowly maneuvered himself into the dining room, where Yuffie had prepared a good, huge, breakfast.

Yuffie grinned as she watched him wolf it down, and then frowned. She had allowed herself to think about the breakfasts she'd make Vincent a few years down the road, when she'd honed her cooking skills. As if she was some sort of stupid housewife or something.

As if she'd ever actually wind up with him.

Her diary, locked as well, and much more well-hidden than Vincent's, detailed all of this. It was the only place she could spill the beans. Plus, she knew Vincent wasn't the type to pry, so he'd never read it.

That morning, while Vincent watched the satellite TV she'd had installed during his sickness (he had a fondness for the record function, and the fact that certain TV shows and movies could be played on demand as opposed to at certain times, and was interestedly playing around with the remote control), Yuffie was in her room, door locked, writing in her diary.

_Sweet Leviathan._ She wrote. _There's absolutely no way I can continue living in this house with him. I'll jump him if I do. Especially if he's wandering around shirtless all of the time._

_I don't know what to do. I can't let myself be weak. For his sake. What if this is just some sort of hero-worship thing? What if he's just my best friend? I can't risk it. I can't let him know I've fallen in love with him, because if I really haven't, or if I fall out of love, it'll kill him._

A few tears dropped onto the page._ I can't do that to him. I'm not Lucrecia – I can't just toy with people's emotions like that. Vincent deserves...someone faithful, someone unbroken. After everything he's gone through, I think he's earned it._

_But God, it's so hard. So hard to be my normal cheerful self and pretend everything is peachy keen, when he's walking around shirtless and I get a face full of his crotch for three days. Sometimes I hope it's just that he's hot. Cuz he is. But I don't think so. And I'm scared of it..._

"Yuffie?" Vincent's voice sounded outside her door.

Her eyes widened and she shoved the diary and pen underneath her pillow. "Yeah?" She called, standing up and walking toward the door, unlocking it and flipping it open.

There stood Vincent, shirtless and unintentionally sexy, his hair adorably mussed. He was holding the remote in his hand. "This needs batteries."

She frowned at him. "Did you kill it already? Jeez, Vince, we just got it a few days ago!"

He shook his head. "The batteries – they exploded. I cleaned out the remote but we need more, and I can't find any."

She sighed. "That's because I haven't bought any. Lemme grab my purse and I'll run to the store real quick, okay?"

He nodded and went back into the living room.

She grabbed her purse off the nightstand and left.

Vincent watched Yuffie prepare to leave the house. She had her long socks on but had taken her boots off, so she shrugged those on, and grabbed a jacket – it was starting to get cool in Nibelheim. It usually did around this time of the year.

"Is everything...alright, Yuffie?" Vincent asked, concern coloring his voice.

"Everything's fine, I'm just kinda tired." She said. She finished tugging on her left boot and grinned at him. If Vincent hadn't spent the past year studying Yuffie's movements, he would have been fooled by her bright smile.

He looked at her suspiciously. For the past few weeks she'd been acting oddly and it worried him. It could, however, just be the strain of having to have taken care of him, and he resolved to be more self-sufficient. She didn't have to do any of the things she'd done for him, and he knew it.

Yuffie waved goodbye and exited the house. Vincent stood. He was determined to find out what was bothering Yuffie Kisaragi.

**- - - - - **

Vincent didn't have much time and he knew it. First he searched the desktop computer, but apparently Yuffie didn't keep a journal or anything like that on there. He also searched the 'Net, where he found her blog, but it hadn't been updated since she got clean.

Then he remembered her Christmas present to him – a journal. Yuffie seemed the type of girl to keep a handwritten diary. He stood and hobbled toward her room, listening closely for sounds of her return.

Vincent felt guilty walking into her room with intentions to pry. On the computer, in his eyes, it was fair game; but a private journal was a different matter entirely.

If it had a lock like his did, he wouldn't look at it. That sat better with him and he started searching.

He tried all of her usual hiding spots, including behind the nightstand and in the lamp (he did, however, find several mastered materia there). He came up dry, and finally resorted to looking between the mattress and box spring, where he kept his.

Nothing.

Then he glanced over and caught a glimpse of something peeking out from under her pillow. That wasn't a good hiding spot and he figured she'd hidden it quickly. It was a diary, with a lock..but it was unlocked.

Well, if she couldn't be bothered to lock it...it couldn't be that important, right?

He frowned and went to close the journal, intending to respect her privacy, when he caught a flash of his name in her writing.

Yuffie writing about him? Well, it made sense, after all. They did live together.

That concept suddenly hit him. Yuffie and him did live together. He raised his eyebrows at this sudden realization. It had been like that for a long time, and yet he was only now realizing it. Odd.

Well, it was a diary with a lock. He had promised he wouldn't do it if it had a lock.

But the diary was sitting there, tantalizingly. It smelled like her, and he opened the journal to it's first page.

He flipped through idly, skimming it until shortly before his sickness began. Then he started reading.

About halfway through he stopped in shock, and backed up to reread a sentence that he couldn't quite believe.

_"I read Vincent's journal last night, while he was asleep on the couch."_ Yuffie admitted to her diary. _"I feel kinda bad about it, but he's been acting so odd lately, and I wanted to know why. He thinks he loves me. Who'd want to love someone like me? I'm one big huge fuckup. A former princess who never learned anything about self control, who went and got her country captured and became addicted to fucking speed. I'm either too skinny or too fat – I can't decide which. I think Vincent's just got a crush on me or something._

_He can't love me. Right?"_

The next few days she talked about taking care of him, and then Tasha arriving to take care of him. Then, suddenly, Vincent came to an entry that was written very jaggedly.

_"I love Vincent. I knew it the moment I read his journal. But I can't...I can't tell him. I can't do that to him. I'm so young and flighty; what if I stop loving him, or what if this is just a crush? Or what if I just want his body? Hmm, what a body. Tasha and I were helping him take a shower today and I got to see everything. Let's just say that if he ever marries someone, I am jealous of Mrs. Valentine._

_But yeah. I can't do that to him. It's not fair. I don't want to hurt him like Lucrecia did. If I stop loving him...I'm afraid of what he'll do. He locked himself up for 30 years over a woman who he never got a chance to be with in the first place. What would he do if he had love, and it got taken away?_

_I can't do that to him. No way."_

Then her latest entry, dated today. Probably written right before she left. _"Vincent deserves...someone faithful, someone unbroken. After everything he's gone through, I think he's earned it." _Tears dotted the page.

Vincent frowned and returned the diary to it's exact hiding place, in the condition he'd found it. One part of him was elated; the part of him that enjoyed the company of cats and occasionally listened to love songs. Only occasionally, of course; in fact, very rarely, but it still happened. That part of him was ecstatic.

The other part of him, the main part, was upset. Yuffie thought he deserved better, when really, it was she. Despite her past, she was still pure and good; he was dark, foreboding, and stained.

And she thought that by denying her love, if that's what it was, she would save him, somehow.

He laughed, a short, sad, sardonic laugh. What Yuffie failed to realize is that she made his life worth living. But he did agree with her on one point.

No, they were not meant to be. No, company alone would have to do, and if his presence was driving her as insane as she claimed, maybe she ought to go. Or maybe he ought to.

But his mind flicked back to what she'd written; she claimed, before she admitted love, that Vincent was her stability, her reason not to go back to drugs. Even if his presence was torturing her, was it right to take that away from her? If his presence kept her from going out and slipping back into her old life, even if it made her suffer a little bit, it'd be worth it in the long run. Right?

He didn't know. His mind felt clouded. He couldn't tell if her staying there would actually be good for her, or if he just wanted her around for his own selfish reasons.

One thing was certain, though – he was going to start appreciating her more. Yuffie had done so much for him. It was the least he could do. In fact, he felt badly for having taken her for granted for so long. His father would be ashamed.

He shuffled back into the living room and took his medications, as it was time, and then glanced at the clock. Yuffie, knowing her, was probably buying more than just batteries. If he hurried, he could make a decent dinner. It would be an early dinner, as it was only three, but it would be a dinner nonetheless. Vincent did enjoy cooking and had yet to have displayed that skill to Yuffie.

In fact, he decided to make her sushi. He happened to know that she'd bought all of the ingredients on her manic shopping spree several weeks back, most of them were bound to be still good.

And so he set himself to it, boiling rice in the Wutain style and adding the vinegars and sugars to make it usable in sushi, and then preparing the rolls and slicing them with a sharp, wet knife.

He even cleaned up after himself. Afterward, he set out the table with sushi rolls and sides, and condiments. Some searching revealed green tea, which he prepared, and sake, which he also set out. He didn't know if she liked sake, though.

He'd just finished cleaning up and putting everything away when he heard the door slam. He walked into the living room and saw Yuffie standing here, loaded down with packages, shoulders slumped. She looked defeated.

"Yuffie?" He asked, tentatively. She was obviously distressed, and he didn't know how to handle it. He must have looked quite a sight – in Cid's silly pajama bottoms, hair everywhere, covered in sushi rice. That wouldn't be a comforting sight, if he were in her place.

"Vincent!" She cried, dropping the packages and running to him. In desperation, he realized. She threw her arms around him and he stood there, gaping down at her. She was crying.

He just stood there. Mentally, he kicked himself.

Finally she finished crying and backed away, wiping tears from her eyes. Vincent inwardly cursed the part of him that didn't help people, that forced him not to hug her back in her time of need. Instead, he gaped at her.

"...Are you alright?" He asked.

"I'm fine." She said, hiccuping. "I just...on the way back I saw a guy selling tweak and I wanted it so bad, I almost went and bought some, and it was such...such a horrible feeling, Vinnie." Vinnie. She hadn't called him that in a long while.

"But you didn't?" He asked.

"N-no. I didn't." Yuffie said. She sniffed.

"Then there is no problem." Vincent said, raising his eyebrow. Yuffie wondered to herself if he was intentionally sexy like that, or if it just came naturally. "Temptation is a normal part of life; what makes us good or bad is resisting it."

"I...I guess you're right. It was just..a shock." She smiled weakly up into his eyes. "After all of this time, wanting it..."

"I don't think that's ever going to go away." Vincent said, gently.

She shook her head and looked down.

"What else did you get?" Vincent asked, pointing to the bags she'd dropped.

"Just some food for dinner." She said, mutely.

"Well, I suggest you put it away." Vincent said, smirking. Yuffie paused. He looked so pleased with himself, like a cat after receiving a treat. It was so hot she had to restrain the urge to tear those stupid pajama pants off and mount him like a deer.

Then she blinked and dragged herself to the present. "Huh?" She asked.

"I made dinner." He said. He pointed to the table, set up for sushi, which she loved.

She blinked again and then looked back at him. "Vincent! You're supposed to be getting better!"

He shrugged. "I felt pretty good, and you've been taking care of me all of this time." He glanced at the wall behind her and his face went blank. Ah, yes. Passive Vincent. She had a lot of experience with this one.

"Well, geez, Vincent. It's not that hard. I'd hope you'd do the same for me, or anyone else in AVALANCHE. Friends take care of friends, right?"

He nodded. "Right. Friends." He brushed his hands off. "I'm going to go wash up. Unless you need me to carry those into the kitchen." He pointed at the bags.

"No, I can do it. Go wash up." She said, smiling. She turned and knelt to pick them up, unintentionally giving Vincent a peek up her very short shorts, which were getting loose on her. He closed his eyes and turned jerkily toward his bedroom.

"I'm going to take a shower." He said, roughly. "I will not take long."

Well, Yuffie hadn't worn underwear when he saved her from that rapist...it would make sense that she wouldn't wear it now.

Still, it didn't change the fact that he had to take care of himself in the bathroom for the first time in a long time.

**- - - - - **

After the dishes were done and the garbage taken out, Yuffie thanked Vincent for "an awesome sushi meal." He smiled at her faintly and then turned in for the night.

Yuffie sat on the couch, staring at the TV, her knees hiked up to her chin. She was crying and she couldn't stop.

She wanted him. She wanted him so badly, and not just in the primal sense. She wanted to hold him, she wanted him to hold her back when she was crying. She wanted to make that stiffness in him go away, make him realize that he did deserve love. She wanted him.

And she was so scared. So very scared. Vincent was like a china doll; too expensive and dear to be played with, too fragile. So easy to break if dropped. He was her best friend, confidante, and roommate. She couldn't ruin that by adding the "lover" title to it, too.

Vincent, despite his recent illness, had excellent hearing. He'd always had it, but it was almost animal-like in sensitivity after Hojo. So when he heard her crying in the living room, he was at a loss.

Did he go and comfort her, or did he stay there and endure it? Every sob she let out, no matter how quiet, killed a small part of him.

He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the sounds, but the impassivity, the uncaring attitude – he couldn't make it happen this time. He loved her, so much, and hearing her cry hurt him, almost physically.

So he got up and shuffled in stocking feet to the living room, where Yuffie was bent over double on the couch, crying in great, hiccuping gulps. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her face was buried in her lap.

"Yuffie?" He asked, quietly. Her head shot up and her tears stopped. Abashed, she ran her hand over her eyes.

"Mushy part on the movie." She said, gesturing to the TV. A comedy was on, but Vincent didn't bother mentioning it.

Vincent slowly moved toward the couch and sat next to her, awkwardly drawing her into a hug. She started crying again and Vincent let her cry into his chest, wishing he were better at this sort of thing. He wasn't, of course, but that didn't mean he couldn't be of some comfort to her.

He fabricated an excuse for her. "Is it the drug dealers?" He murmured, expecting her to maybe go along with it for posterity's sake.

She shook her head no. "Not even close." She said, softly, before dissolving into sobs again.

She was sitting there, crying over him...and he couldn't tell her he knew because that would mean admitting everything.

Admitting he'd read her diary.

Admitting he loved her. Which she knew, of course, but she didn't know he knew that she knew.

Admitting that every time she bent over, he had to as well, to hide his sudden arousal. Admitting that he had dreams about holding her, and dreams about doing other things to her as well.

Vincent's whole life had been shrouded in lies. He decided to end that, here and now.

"Yuffie." He said. It must have shown in the tone of his voice because she looked up at him.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, withdrawing his arms from around her and staring off into the distance. She looked up at him, questioningly, with tears in her eyes that he couldn't bear to see.

"I...Have something to confess." He said. His voice sounded odd now, and Yuffie was worried he was going to tell her outright that he loved her.

"...Yeah?" She said, half fearful, half hopeful.

"...I stumbled upon your diary today." He said. She drew back in horror.

"Well." He continued. "Stumbled is the wrong word. I looked for it. I was worried about you."

She blushed and looked away from him. "Why are you telling me this?" She demanded.

He exhaled. "I've lived in lies for too long. If I'm going to start telling the truth, shouldn't I start with you?" He made it sound so reasonable, but she didn't want to know that. She didn't want to know...that he'd read all of those things about him. Things about how she loved him...and fantasies as well. Fantasies involving him.

The unspoken words dangled in the air. "Don't." Yuffie choked out.

He looked at her in surprise. He'd been done. What needed to be said, had been said. She knew he loved her, and he knew she loved him. If she didn't wish to be with him, for whatever reasons, that was her business. He simply felt she deserved to know.

"Don't what?" He asked, in genuine confusion.

"Don't tell me you love me." She whispered, fearfully.

"I wasn't going to." He said, still confused. He frowned. "You already know all about that."

"You don't...deserve someone like me. You know all about that, if you read it." She said. She felt like her heart was breaking; it was one thing to swear she was going to hide her love from Vincent. It was another to know that he knew, and still deny a relationship between them. It hurt, like a blow to the chest. Vincent let out a sour bark of laughter and Yuffie looked at him in surprise.

"Yuffie, while I will admit that I...I would very much enjoy being with you...in fact, if I were with you for only a day, my life would be complete...I have no intention of pursuing a relationship with you."

She blinked and a tiny bit of hurt crept into her voice. "Why?"

He sighed. "For the exact same reasons you do not wish to be with me."

Yuffie laughed. It was a sour, sad laugh. "What a pair we are. Each insisting that the other is the better person."

Vincent snorted. "But I'm right."

Yuffie rolled her eyes.

Vincent stood. "Now that the slate is clean, I am going to go to bed." He turned toward her and a slightly tender look came over his features. It softened his face and made him look...gentle, loving. Yuffie's breath caught in her throat; would he be looking at her like that from now on? If so, this whole conversation was worth it.

"Just promise me one thing, Yuffie." He said. "No more tears, okay?" He closed his eyes and turned his face downward. "I cannot take your tears. They rip me apart."

Yuffie gulped and nodded. "I promise I'll try."

He smiled, a sad little smile. "That will have to do, then. Good night, Yuffie. Sweet dreams."

She watched him retreat and bit her lip. "Sweet dreams, Vincent." She mouthed the next words, so only she knew they were said, if silently.

_"I love you."_

_Author's notes: Okay, that took forever. But we're getting closer! And the chapters are getting longer, always a good thing. Well, usually. I really liked this chapter and I hope you do too; I've already started Chapter 10!_

_And yeah...That description of how it's like to smoke pot is fairly accurate. shifts eyes_

_AND everyone thank Cally again, my beta-reader. She catches EVERYTHING. I adore her._

_Read? Review!_


	10. Roll The Dice

**Diamonds and Guns**

_**Chapter Ten – Roll The Dice**_

_I've got another confession  
I fell to temptation  
And there is no question  
There was some connection  
I gotta follow my heart  
No matter how far  
I gotta roll the dice  
Never look back, and never think twice_

-- Papa Roach, _To Be Loved_

_**Author's warning: LEMON.**_

If anyone in Avalanche got wind of a melancholy air filling the Valentine household, none of them mentioned it aloud. It'd be hard to miss, however; Vincent was overly dour and Yuffie overly cheerful if anyone chose to visit. However, Tasha was not part of Avalanche and she didn't have enough tact in any part of her body to keep from interfering.

Tasha came back to check up on Vincent after a month. He'd fully recovered at this point and resented the checkup, but it had to be done to assure it wouldn't happen again.

Tasha had just given him a clean bill of health when she cornered him in his bedroom. "What's going on around here, anyway?" She demanded, planting her hands on her hips. "You're so damn grumpy, and Yuffie's so sickeningly sweet, that I'm not sure if this house is going to crumble from all of the bad vibes or because it's made of fucking sugar."

Vincent snorted.

"You better not have done something to her, Vincent." Tasha said, narrowing her eyes.

"I've done nothing to Yuffie." He said. His voice got dangerously quiet, and for the first time in their acquaintance, Vincent was displeased with the younger woman. "If you ever suggest that I have done something to her again, you will not like the results. Please leave."

She snorted and packed up her bag. "Good thing you don't need any more meds. With that attitude, I'd leave you here to rot instead of writing you a 'script." She picked up the bag and flipped him off, which would have amused him in any other situation.

He heard them talking in the other room. How could he not? If he could hear Yuffie's quiet sobbing, he could definitely pick up a full-fledged conversation.

"He didn't have to be such a jerk about it." Yuffie said. "But he's right. He hasn't done anything to me. Everyone would know if he did. They'd suddenly find his dead body hanging on a cross outside of Nibelheim, and I'd be nowhere to be found."

Tasha laughed. "Well, that's good, but...You guys...You just seem so..."

"Depressed?" Yuffie's quiet reply startled him, and he realized that she was, indeed, going through the motions and faking her happiness. She'd done such a good job she'd fooled him.

"Yeah." Tasha said. "I just wanted to make sure..."

"Everything's fine, Tasha. I appreciate your concern. Really. But everything's fine." The last word came out suspiciously similar to a sob, but Tasha didn't seem to catch it.

"Well...okay. But call me or Shera if you feel like getting out for a while." Tasha said. "We've got all of the skies and most of the ground at our beck and call."

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." Yuffie said.

**- - - - - **

After that, it was no real surprise to Vincent when Yuffie came to him that night.

"Yuffie..." He warned her, sternly.

"No funny business." She said. "I just...want to remember that I'm alive. That's all." She really was depressed.

She climbed into the bed with him and curled into him. Out of instinct, he wrapped his arm around her, and she buried her face into his chest. That was all she wanted; to be held by the one she loved, even if she couldn't be with him.

He understood, because he wanted the same thing. So, obligingly, he held her that night, and the night after, and the night after. And if occasionally he kissed her on the forehead at night before turning into sleep himself, she never mentioned it, and if occasionally, he felt her murmur the words "I love you" into his chest, it was never spoken of.

Both of their dispositions cheered considerably once they had that one simple concession to their love. Yuffie's bed stayed made and every night, she climbed into bed with Vincent, and they both emerged fully dressed the following morning. That's all there was too it.

The wanderlust had faded from Vincent's eyes. Yuffie saw it. He was content here, with her, even if they weren't together. He had a house built by friends; a kitchen stocked by unlimited funds; and a bed that was warmed every night by the woman he loved. He had everything he needed at the moment.

The nightmares came less frequently, too. When they'd been traveling together, he'd had nightmares almost every night. He didn't talk about them, in fact, didn't even realize she knew about them. Yuffie was a naturally light sleeper as the result of years of Ninja alertness training; every night he'd wake up panting and making small, angry or scared cries. Every night she pretended to ignore them.

Now, however, he slept deeply through the nights, drawing her close for comfort occasionally but never waking up from the pure terror of a dream. If she was a comfort to him in his rest, she was willing to stay there.

And so it came that on his birthday, Vincent woke up in bed feeling like his dreams had all come true. It didn't start out that way, however.

It didn't even register to him that it was his birthday. October 13th had come and gone throughout the years uncelebrated, and it was just another day to him. In about a month he might remember that he needed to tack another year onto his age if he was filling out a form.

Yuffie, however, remembered. She woke before him and silently slipped out of the room, knowing exactly when he'd wake and assuring herself the extra time to prepare.

She made him breakfast, as she usually did, but this time it was comprised of all of the dishes she'd noticed he took particular pleasure in. She put in extra effort to make sure it was all things he liked, and she made fresh-squeezed orange juice and coffee.

She then set it up on a tray and put it in his room with a note, just for him.

Then she waited.

**- - - - - **

Vincent woke up and automatically knew something was wrong. Yuffie was not wrapped within his arms. He shot up in bed, wondering what was going on.

Then he glanced toward the bedside table and frowned. Food. And a note.

On the front were the words "Happy Birthday." His frowned deepened. His birthday?

He thought back the last few days and realized that Yuffie was right. Today was his birthday.

He set the note aside and ate. More often than not, he awoke hungry in the mornings. It hadn't always been like that, but something about seeing food made him want it, especially food Yuffie had cooked.

And she had. All of his favorite breakfast dishes were there, and he enjoyed it immensely, managing to cram all of it into his frame. Then he set the tray down and picked up the note, hoping for something not bad.

_"Dear Vincent;_

_You told me that your life would be complete if you could be with me for one day. Today is your birthday, and as your birthday present, that's what I'm giving you. For one day, we can be together. You can do a lot in one day._

_Love, your girlfriend (for a day)_

_Yuffie."_

Vincent blinked and swallowed, hard. Tears pricked at his eyes and he frowned.

Yuffie was literally fulfilling one of his dreams, and she just did it without being asked or told. It was her little surprise and he knew she was immensely proud of herself for it...and he couldn't help but be delighted. One day.

Yuffie was right, you could do a lot in one day.

Speaking of the devil herself, Yuffie opened the door and smiled at him brightly. It was a real smile, the kind of smile she used to flash back before Deepground. Vincent felt his heart throb painfully.

"Happy birthday, Vinnie." She said, smiling as she gathered up his breakfast dishes. She winked at him and then leaned over to give him a quick kiss on the lips.

Before he had a chance to respond, she was out the door, like some sort of whirlwind. Of their own accord, his fingers of his good hand went to touch his mouth, in the spot where she'd kissed him.

"Stop sitting in there like a goofball and get dressed." Yuffie's voice demanded from the hallway.

She really was getting to know him too well.

**- - - - - **

So far, the day was amazing, and all they'd done was watch television for a few hours. Only now Vincent had his arm draped around Yuffie's shoulders, and she was leaning into him. Occasionally she'd give him a kiss or murmur "I love you." It meant the world to him.

After a few hours of this, she turned to him with a slightly wicked smile on her face and then kissed him – for real. Her tongue pried his lips open and suddenly Vincent Valentine, who was in his sixties and hadn't so much as touched a woman sexually in over thirty of those years, was making out.

That kept them occupied for another hour or so (neither kept track) until Vincent's stomach started rumbling, at which point Yuffie withdrew her face, looking a little flushed, and went to go make lunch.

Vincent leaned back. A small part of him was protesting in the back of his mind, but the majority of him was enjoying this day so far, and was also determined to make the most of it. Having Yuffie for a day...would be a perfect day. He could tell her he loved her, as often as he wanted...hug her, kiss her...hold her on the couch while they watched TV. Such simple things that most people took for granted, he could now reflect on during worse days.

It started raining about halfway through lunch, which meant the satellite television went out. Yuffie shrugged and popped in a movie – one he liked, and they cuddled more. There was more kissing, more making out, more cuddling...and to Vincent...it was perfect.

Vincent helped Yuffie prepare dinner, against her protestations. Then he could feel what it was like to do work like that with your loved one, and he found it enjoyable. They had their supper and then played a card game (which Yuffie won, of course – Vincent may have an excellent poker face, but Yuffie had the skill). Then they watched another movie and Vincent sat with his head in Yuffie's lap, while she petted his hair.

It was a perfect day. Vincent hadn't been lying when he said he felt his life would be complete if he'd been with Yuffie for one day. He really did think that he'd be fine for the rest of his life now that he'd experienced this one thing.

At one minute before midnight, he kissed her. "Thank you, Yuffie." He whispered. "This is the most amazing thing you have ever done for me. I will always treasure it." He said.

Then he went to bed.

He didn't expect her to climb in with him tonight, but she did anyway. He didn't expect her to climb into his arms willingly, but she did.

He didn't expect her to start undressing him, but she did.

'"My birthday is over." He said.

"You haven't gone to sleep yet." She replied. She stopped his protestations by placing a series of kisses down his jawline.

It felt so good that he couldn't make himself stop.

She nibbled and sucked on his neck at all of the tender spots, making him gasp in pleasure. One left a mark, and she grinned, thinking that she'd just not tell him about it, and leave him something remember today by.

Then she began kissing, slowly, making him burn with need, down his chest and stomach, past his belly button...

Until she took the head of his now very erect penis into her mouth.

Vincent gasped. He knew Yuffie wasn't a virgin, but he didn't expect her to have the skills she was now exhibiting. She suckled and teased, playing with his testicles with her hand while she nursed his erect member with her mouth. She'd definitely have to stop this or he was going to ruin it.

"Nnnng." He protested, weakly. She smirked, but seemed to understand, as she stopped her ministrations.

"Yuffie..." He began, trying vainly to stop this before it went too far.

"Shut up, Vincent." She said. "It's your birthday, for Christ's sake. And you need to get laid. So do I."

Vincent blinked at her crude language, but found himself unable to really form an argument against it. His mind was too scattered from her mind-blowing (no pun intended) performance earlier.

"I will only agree to this if I have some say in the matter." He said.

"You mean, you want to be the guy?" Yuffie asked, amusement in her voice. "Fine by me."

With a suddenness that startled her, she was flipped onto her back and Vincent was kissing her. It was the hot, heavy, labored kissing of a man in the midst of passion, and Yuffie knew he'd given in.

He nibbled at her neck and shoulders while playing with her clit with his human hand, eliciting startled, but pleased, gasps from her. When he began to sink lower she moaned in pleasure.

Finally, his tongue found it, that red-hot button that made her groan and thrust her hips out every time he flicked at it and suckled it. Vincent spent his time there, remembering another talk his father had had with him, just before he left, and just after Vincent had hit puberty. He'd said that a man always makes sure his lady is pleased in bed before he is; it's only polite, after all. Besides, Vincent didn't mind going down on Yuffie; she was clean and fresh and it was Yuffie, so it only excited him further.

"Oh Leviathan!" Yuffie moaned. Vincent smiled and continued what he was doing, feeling Yuffie begin to writhe underneath him. Suddenly she froze and he knew she was at the beginning of a very hard orgasm.

She moaned as she rode the waves radiating from her center. Vincent continued what he was doing, prolonging it as long as he could. She made him stop when she suddenly became oversensitive.

He looked at her innocently as she sent an accusatory glance in his direction.

"What?" He asked.

"Well, if I'd known you were that good at it, I may have agreed to this one day thing a lot sooner." She said, spitefully. He chuckled and kissed her.

She could taste herself on his lips and tongue. To her surprise, it aroused her, and she wanted him in her. Now.

She moaned and he flipped her over again. This time he kissed her slowly and then stopped and looked in her eyes as he slid inside.

She gasped and reached outward for his headboard. When she opened her eyes she realized he was still looking down at her, increasing his stroke speed but never once taking his eyes off of her. He was, she realized, memorizing every detail he would be able to remember in the future. Because he would never have this again.

Thrusting her hands into her mouth to stifle her screams of passion, she thought to herself that if this was the only time she ever got to experience sex this good, she was going to kill herself.

Vincent lost control shortly after, taking his eyes from her and throwing his head back, dark hair spilling down his shoulders. By his face one could tell he'd just entered ecstasy; his mouth was open, he was panting, and his eyes, when she could see them, were dilated.

The sight was so erotic that it sent Yuffie into a premature orgasm. She involuntarily ripped her fingers out of her mouth and let loose with a moan so loud she was pretty sure Red XIII could have heard it in Cosmo Canyon. Vincent could feel her walls pulsing and clenching and it touched the right set of nerves...

Suddenly he was spilling his seed inside her, panting, shaking, twitching, and murmuring sweet nothings into her ears. She smiled; the noises he made while coming would be good masturbatory material if she could ever work up the nerve to go buy a damn vibrator.

He lay on her for a few seconds, regaining his bearings, before slowly sliding out of her (she winced; Vincent was bigger than most and while it was certainly enjoyable, one would expect to be a little sore afterward) and flopping to his side of the bed in the most undignified manner she'd ever seen out of him.

Yuffie grinned and cuddled up to him. Both of them were still naked, but it hardly mattered at this point.

"It's not my birthday anymore." He warned her again.

She smiled. "We haven't gone to sleep yet. It isn't over until we go to sleep."

Vincent raised his eyebrow and she smiled at him. She wondered – would he keep her awake for the rest of her life?

No, but he kept her awake throughout most of the morning, and she couldn't say she'd ever been happier.

**- - - - - **

When Yuffie awoke the next afternoon, she and Vincent were both fully clothed. She didn't remember dressing herself so she figured Vincent was probably the culprit. Then again, she'd been so strung-out on an overdose of endorphins from too many orgasms (Vincent was quite talented), that she may have done it herself.

Where'd he learn to do that shit? She knew he wasn't banging chicks while he was living in a coffin, and she knew he and Lucrecia had never had sex (as he'd explained when she questioned whether or not Sephiroth was his child at some point). But he'd learned somewhere!

Mmm. She didn't care where he'd learned it. She stretched. She was going to have to find more reasons to pretend to be his girlfriend if this was the case.

Then she shot up in bed. Vincent wasn't in bed with her.

She panicked. She couldn't help it, and it proved to her that she really did love Vincent, that the idea of losing him, no matter what form she had him in, scared her more than anything else.

Vincent was not just a passing phase. Vincent was the love of her life.

"Aw, crap." She said, burying her face in her hands. Vincent was going to spurn her, of course – he'd already said he didn't want to be with her, that she deserved someone else. Maybe that's why he'd left.

Then she smelled bacon frying and grinned, hopping out of bed. Vincent, making brunch?

And he had. Not the huge spread from the morning before, but just breakfast for the two of them. Yuffie smiled around a mouthful of eggs at him and he smiled back. It was a hint of sadness there, but the man was at peace as she'd never seen him before.

She knew she couldn't tell him. Not right now. She had to make him see that he was perfect for her, and that she deserved not someone better than him, but someone exactly like him. She had to make him see that he'd atoned for his imagined sins and much more, and that he was not tainted. She had to make him feel worth her.

She had no idea how hard the job would be, but she had a lifetime to take it on. A lifetime.

Because she wasn't giving up on him. Not while either of them still lived and breathed.

**- - - - - **

Yuffie still came to him every night. A month after his birthday, and they still cuddled every night. It was like a remnant of the past that both of them looked forward to.

Every now and then Yuffie would get a glint in her eye and try to start something, and Vincent would resolutely shut her down. Casual sex wasn't something he really believed in and he'd be damned if he was going to start just because of Yuffie.

On the day of Yuffie's birthday it snowed. Vincent acted like it was a normal day, glancing out the windows and commenting on the snowfall, up until about 11 a.m. Yuffie was actually starting to pout when he left and returned with a card, which he handed to her before disappearing.

The card turned out to be a clue, which led to another clue, and then another. She was led on a scavenger hunt throughout the house; a little trinket or gift was with every clue she found, and they finally led to Vincent's bedroom, where he was waiting for her.

"So, what." She asked afterward, still breathing heavily and sweating. "No sex except for special occasions?"

Vincent pondered this. "I suppose so." He said. He lay his head on her arm; he was equally sweaty. "I only did it because I knew how badly you wanted it. I...believe that two people should be together if they're going to."

Yuffie nodded, and brushed his hair out of her face. "I get that. But..."

Vincent shook his head. She sighed.

Life was as normal as it could be. On special occasions Yuffie and Vincent got sex. Every other day of the year, they abstained. Not for Yuffie's lack of trying, but Vincent was like Da Chao; unchanging, unmoving.

They passed the time amicably, as friends would. Yuffie convinced Vincent to come with her to the bulk shopping store, and he convinced her to try horse riding, a wholly different being from chocobo riding, and much harder.

If they closed their eyes, they could pretend they were with each other. Then they'd open them and look into the other's eyes and see a sad little grimace there – because they knew exactly what had just happened.

"Hey, Vinnie, I've gotta go for my checkup." Yuffie said, wrinkling her nose. "Tasha's gonna take me on the Tiny Bronco. I'll be back in time for dinner, okay?" She grabbed her purse from the coffee table and glanced at him. "Need anything while I'm out?"

Vincent shook his head no and she was gone.

**- - - - - **

His PHS hadn't rung in so long he was unused to hearing it.

He scrambled through the house, trying to find it before it went to voice mail. Finally he got it; it had been in his night stand all along.

"Hello?" He gasped. There was a silence and he tried again, hoping it hadn't switched right to voice mail. "Hello?"

"Vincent?" Yuffie said. She sounded like she'd been crying. He was on alert at an instant.

"Yuffie? What's wrong?" He asked.

She sniffled into the phone. "I have...some news." She said. Thoughts flashed through Vincent's mind – cancer? AIDS? A heart getting ready to die?

"Tell me." He said, steeling himself for the worst.

She hemmed and hawed for a few minutes before blurting it out.

"I'm pregnant."

And for the first time in a very, very long time, Vincent Valentine fainted.

**- - - - - **

"I'm really, really sorry, Vincent." Yuffie was sobbing. He opened his eyes to her face.

"Huh?" He asked. He was laying on the floor. His head hurt.

"I'm so sorry, Vincent. My other doctor...he told me I couldn't get pregnant. I didn't think about it. I'm so, so, so sorry." She was bawling; afraid he'd leave, maybe? "I'll get an abortion. I'm so, so, so, so..."

Vincent's eyes narrowed. "Out of the question." He said, sitting up so suddenly he almost smacked her in the face.

"Vincent...I can't..." She turned her face. "I can't have a baby. I'm not married. It's...I'm not allowed." She whispered. "I can't. I can't. I CANT." The tears started again.

Vincent closed his eyes. Maybe an abortion would be best. His revulsion at the initial thought was slowly being replaced with hesitance. He didn't know if his progeny would ever be viable beings.

"The...baby." He said, stumbling on the word and clearing his throat. "Is it...healthy?"

"They can't tell yet." Yuffie said, through her tears. "Not for another few weeks."

He nodded and put his arm around her, letting her sob into his shoulder.

It was going to be a long month.

**- - - - - **

Vincent stared at the film in front of him. The scanner showed the now-noticeable bulge in Yuffie's abdomen. It was little more than a blob, but apparently the doctors here could determine that his and Yuffie's child was a girl with no malformations or defects.

"So now you have a choice to make." The doctor said, cheerfully. "You can keep it or you can have an abortion. If you want to keep it you'll have to keep coming in for prenatal care. If you want to have an abortion, you're going to have to get it done within the next week or two, or else you'll be harmed in the process." She smiled at them. "Give it a day or two, it's a big decision."

Both of them were silent on the way home, lost in their own worlds. When they got home they said the first words to each other since Vincent told her that he wanted to come to her appointment, if that was okay with her.

"I want to get an abortion." Yuffie said, her lip trembling as she said it. She really didn't, but it seemed to be the only way out of this.

"Marry me." Vincent said.

Yuffie gaped.

"What?" She said. "Wait, first you won't even date me, and then you want to marry me?"

"No." Vincent temporized. "First, I didn't think I was good enough for you. Now, I still don't, but I don't want anyone to suffer because of my self-esteem issues."

"No way, Jose." Yuffie said. Vincent looked a little hurt. "Vinnie, I don't want to get married because I'm having a fucking baby. I want to get married because I love you, and you love me. If that's not a good enough reason for you..."

Vincent captured her in an embrace, oddly romantic for him, especially considering that Yuffie was piss-mad. "Yuffie." He said it quietly. She stilled at the sound of his voice.

"What?"

"Yuffie, if I did not love you, I would not have asked you. If I did not love you, we wouldn't even be in this position. And if it somehow weren't because of love, I do not think I would have stayed when you told me you were pregnant." He sighed and looked at the ceiling, drawing her closer. "Yuffie...this is the loophole of the century. I love you. I want, more than anything, to be with you. I can't in good conscience do that...unless it's for the greater good, so to speak." He looked down into her eyes. "Do you understand me? This is my way of...to borrow a phrase from Cid...mentally masturbating us as right. It's the only way. If you say no...we're done."

Yuffie gaped at him. "You're kidding." Tears sprung to her eyes. "You're giving me an ultimatum?"

Vincent frowned and then sighed. "I suppose I am, Yuffie." He kissed her forehead and then slowly, timidly, almost shyly, placed his hand on her now growing belly. A look of wonder was in his eyes. "I suppose it is only fair to give you time to think it over. I will be in my room if you need to speak with me."

There was a look of pain in his face as he turned away. She knew that he was a pessimist. He clearly expected the worst answer. She thought back to the day he'd told her he'd read her diary; the courage that must have taken.

She couldn't think on an empty stomach. She'd make something for them to eat. Then she'd decide the fate of the rest of her life.

**- - - - - **

She made frozen pizza. And a salad. And bread sticks. And cake. This must be the hunger pangs the doctor was talking about.

She ate her portion and set Vincent's portion on a tray, complete with a soda, and took it into his room. He was sitting at his desk, writing in his journal, so she set it down next to him and walked away, leaving it for him when he decided he was finished.

She wondered what he was writing.

For the first time in a long time, when she got back to her room, she felt the itch to draw. She quickly grabbed her sketch pad and pencil and sat down, feeling awkward and fat already.

She closed her eyes and just...drew. Whatever angle and line came to mind, she put down on the paper. It was soothing, clearing in a way the journal never had been. She knew that drawing would help her find an answer out of the conflicted emotions flowing through her.

She drew until the itch disappeared, and then she set her pencil down and opened her eyes.

There, on her pad of paper, was a perfectly drawn engagement ring. She'd never drawn one before and especially not one with so much excruciating detail, with her eyes closed. She could see the facets of the diamond (despite the fact that she hated diamonds), sparkling in the light, and the individual contours and defects of the metal band.

She cupped her belly and spoke down to it. "I don't know, baby. What do you think? Yea or nay?"

Her stomach grumbled and she groaned, getting up to go get seconds of the pizza.

_Author's Notes: Well, that was shorter than I thought it would be, but oh so delicious. This story is slowly but surely coming to a conclusion. However, I think I still have a few chapters in me yet. What did y'all think?_

_Read? Review!_


	11. My Beloved

**Diamonds and Guns**

_**Chapter Eleven – My Beloved**_

_My beloved  
Don't cry, show me a smile.  
I didn't say I liked seeing tears, did I?_

_My beloved  
It's not "I could die for you" but rather I've decided "I'll live for you"  
Of course together with you too, now, forever, and ever_

-- Miyavi, _Itoshii Hito (My Beloved)_

Yuffie hadn't looked through Vincent's journal since the day she'd discovered he loved her.

He'd filled in quite a bit more lately. There were descriptions of things she'd done that pleased him, including his birthday, described in such a way that it brought tears to her eyes. Really, Vincent ought to write. He was amazing at expressing things in writing, in a way that he could never do verbally.

Following that was a drawing of her. Vincent had captured her perfectly, but he had a way about his drawing that made her seem prettier than she really was; she glowed when he drew her. She ought to have him do a portrait of her.

Beneath the drawing Vincent had inscribed some lines in Wutain, which startled her once she realized she was reading Wutain and not English.

_愛しい人  
泣かないで、笑ってみせて.  
泪がみたくて「好き」って言ったんじゃないんだよ？_

Yuffie was amazed to find that Vincent could not only speak, but write, in original Wutain. It was hard even for those born to the language, with nuances in the writing that were hard for someone not born there to understand. Was Vincent Wutain?

But that he'd write those words on a picture for her...she recognized them, a song from a popular Wutain singer. They were about love...the song was actually called "Itoshii Hito," which translated to "My Beloved."

They were beautiful. She felt tears come to her eyes. Vincent really did love her. Why was she having a hard time accepting his proposal?

He'd left the house on a trip for the first time since they'd moved in – he'd taken the gold chocobo to Rocket Town to pick something up from Cid. He'd be back any minute; she knew she'd have to put the journal away soon. But that picture of her...did she really look like that? Angelic and beautiful? When she looked in the mirror she didn't see that. Maybe love clouded his vision.

She closed the journal with a sigh, slipping it beneath the mattress where she'd found it and then sitting on the bed. Their bed. She hadn't slept in her bed for months.

Really, they were practically married already. They shared a bed, made love, lived together, prepared meals together, watched television together. She felt empty now that he was gone, even temporarily.

She cupped the bulge at her belly. Did she want a child? Did she want to settle down with Vincent? Wasn't she already sort of settled down as it was?

Really, it all came down to whether or not she planned on keeping the baby. Abortion wasn't really an option – it was frowned on by Da Chao and Leviathan. Despite all of her previous indiscretions, Yuffie was still pious, still afraid of offending the gods. So her choices were adoption, and keeping the child and marrying Vincent.

Why was this a hard choice? Of course, she should marry Vincent and raise their child with him. Their daughter.

She tried to imagine what said child would look like, and came up blank.

The tears came unbidden, and she blamed them on hormones. Why should she cry?

That old feeling – the feeling of wanting to go out and get high – came back, and it terrified her. She wasn't just responsible for herself now; there was another being inside of her, and she had to maintain her health.

Of course, when one was high, they didn't have to worry about the ramifications of their actions. But she was smart enough to know that if she left and slipped back into that life now, her chances were slim to none. Vincent wouldn't be waiting for her when she returned.

And she'd be ruining three lives – hers, Vincents, and their daughter's.

She wiped her tears. Really, would she even be a good mother? What kind of person has to struggle with those inner demons and raise a child?

She closed her eyes. Her decision had been made for her, long before Vincent had asked her. When he came back, she'd tell him.

**- - - - - **

The house was unusually quiet when Vincent returned from picking up the tools from Cid. He had a vague desire to make things for the baby, despite the fact that he was fairly certain Yuffie was not going to marry him. It was an odd desire, one he'd never felt before, and he felt that just in case – in the slim chance Yuffie said yes – he'd better have some tools around.

Cid gave him the things, making some passing reference to having an excuse to buy new ones now. Vincent nodded at the man. He had an urge to tell him everything, an odd urge in Vincent at any time, and resolutely shut his mouth after thanking him. Vincent did not invite confidences.

The ride back should have been serene and it was not. He dreaded what waited for him when he got home.

So when he opened the door, he did so quietly. He couldn't hear anything.

Setting the packs down beside the door, he walked toward his room. Their room. Whatever.

Yuffie lay asleep on the bed. She showed recent signs of crying, but was utterly at peace. Her face relaxed in sleep like nothing else and quite honestly, she was beautiful.

Her hands were wrapped protectively around her abdomen, protecting her unborn child even in sleep. Vincent smiled; she'd be a wonderful mother, no matter what she thought, and whether he was in the picture.

She stirred, becoming aware of his presence as he sat on the bed. She awoke to him looking at her with that loving look on his face again; it made her breath catch in her throat.

"Good morning." He said, sardonically. "Even if it is evening."

"Oh, lord, I didn't start dinner." She said, sitting up. "I'm sorry, Vincent."

He shut his eyes and shook his head, chuckling to himself. "I'll make dinner, get some rest."

He stood and left. She watched his retreating form wonderingly. He was so sure she was going to reject him, and yet he was still going to make her supper and could still stare at her like that.

He was one hell of a guy, that much was certain.

She knew that if she married him, he'd treat her like a princess. Had he done anything less in any of the time he'd known her?

She swallowed. She'd tell him after dinner.

**- - - - - **

How Vincent was able to tell that she, in her pregnant state, was craving spaghetti with meatballs and green salad, with an ice for dessert, was beyond her, but he prepared it and it was so good she moaned in happiness while eating it.

"Oh man. That was sooo good." Yuffie said. She sat back and sighed.

Vincent nodded at her and continued eating his portion. Seeing as he didn't have "I-am-pregnant-hear-me-eat" hormones running through his body, he hadn't wolfed it down like she did.

Yuffie was suddenly suffused with a very warm, happy feeling. Vincent had to be on pins and needles; he'd proposed to her and she hadn't said yes or no yet, and yet he was placing no pressure on her.

She looked down at her belly and questioned her decision for one last time before looking up and telling him her verdict.

She gulped, then inhaled. Vincent looked at her politely, not rushing her; in fact, he almost seemed disinterested, which she supposed was his way of coping with indecision.

It was a very Vincentlike reaction. Then she realized she always analyzed his actions.

"I..." She trailed off, floundering.

Vincent returned to his meal.

"Yes." She blurted out. Vincent froze and looked up at her, confusion written on his face.

She coughed. "I mean..yes. To...your question."

Vincent's face was blank for a moment before an almost hopeful look came to his eyes...cautiously hopeful. That's what Vincent was.

"I mean..." She sighed. "I mean I want to marry you. Geez, you can't even just accept it, I have to spell it out for you." She smiled at him, shyly.

Vincent visibly reeled backwards.

"What?" Yuffie said, nervously. "You changed your mind?"

"N-no." Vincent, for the first time in their acquaintance, stuttered. "I'm just...surprised."

She grinned. "Well, there's a first time for everything."

Vincent stood from the table and left the dining room. She was surprised that he'd leave; she thought he'd do something romantically sappy like stare at her for an hour.

To her surprise, he reentered the room shortly after, and even more surprisingly, knelt before her. Then she smiled. She knew Vincent entirely too well, and he really was a romantic.

He held a box out to her; obviously from a jeweler, black and covered in velvet. He opened it and withdrew a ring.

Vincent had paid attention to her. He knew her dislike of diamonds and love of colored gems and had chosen a ring appropriately. It was an emerald, small but perfect, set on a gold band intricately.

Her mouth formed a little O of surprise as he took her hand and placed the ring on it. Then, gently, as if she'd blow into dust if he handled her too hard, he kissed her hand.

She reached over and put her hand on his cheek. This strange feeling inside of her...was this what happy felt like? She'd forgotten, in these years of doing drugs and recovering from her downfall.

She held her hand up and examined the ring. It had a thin layer of dust on it. How long had Vincent had it? How long had he considered marrying her?

"Since we got the house." Vincent said, startling her. "That's when I bought it." He looked down. "I didn't think I'd ever have the chance to use it."

"How'd you know my ring size?" She asked. He shrugged.

"A guess. I know what your hands look like, so when I had it made, I guessed. It could always be resized if I didn't get it right."

Had it made? Vincent had had this specially made?

She pulled the ring off and examined it closer. It was perfect, with no imperfections in either gemstone or metal. On the inside was inscribed a single line, in Wutain.

_愛しい人_

_My beloved._

Yuffie swallowed, hard, and tears started to form.

"Is something wrong?" Vincent asked, alarmed. He was still on the floor in front of her.

"No, no, no." Yuffie said, putting the ring back on her finger. "I'm happy, Vincent. I'm happy. For the first time in a very, very long time."

Vincent's face softened and he stood up, drawing her with him, before embracing her fully. She could now recognize the awkward hugs he'd given her before for the shams that they were; this was what she wanted from him, for now and eternity. This feeling of comfort and belonging. Of trust.

"That makes two of us." He muttered into her hair.

**- - - - - **

There was a lot to do. They would be getting married soon so that there wouldn't be a scandal, of course, but before even that, Yuffie had some last things she had to take care of.

The disguises they wore were perfect. Yuffie wore the normal day-to-day kimono that Wutain women frequently wore, and Vincent a dark colored yakuta. His hair was pulled back like the old Samurai; in that hairstyle, with those clothes on, she could see the hints of Wutai in him. Yes, Vincent was born of Wutai.

Yuffie looked totally different, with the subtle makeup of Wutain women on, and her now-long hair pulled back into a bun. No one would recognize her as Yuffie Kisaragi. No one would recognize Vincent, either.

That was the point, for they were heading into forbidden territory. No member of the Kisaragi clan, nor any ally of them, was allowed into Wutai.

Cloud and Barret, conspiring with Rufus Shinra, hooked them up with false identification so that they would not have a problem at the border into the city. Throughout the countryside, however, Yuffie could see signs of prosperity; full, bursting at the seams fields ready to be harvested, laughing children, houses that had fresh paint and tiles.

The city was even more prosperous. Gone were the tourist attractions; the Nomura family had succeeded where Godo and his clan had failed. They had restored Wutai to it's former glory, to it's old traditions. The city and country were prospering.

Yuffie smiled. Something good, then, had come of her father's death. It was hard to swallow, but the Nomura family had done a much better job with Wutai than she ever would have.

They toured the city for a long while before Yuffie finally headed toward the palace, the home she'd grown up in.

Gone was her father's daytime napping place; in it's place, a professional Wutain office with a low table and a bone china tea set.

When she requested an interview with the head of the Nomura family, she thought she'd be put off for weeks at a time, as her father often had. Instead, she was granted an interview instantaneously, without having to introduce herself. Apparently, Nomura Takeshi felt it was of the utmost importance to listen to the concerns of his people.

Yuffie felt her respect for the man grow.

She and Vincent waited in the office as an aide came and served them green tea. "Kitaru yagate Nomura Takeshi sama." The woman said to Vincent, bowing. Of course, she would say it to Vincent, because he was the man. Yuffie wondered how he would react to this; he had never liked it when others implied that she was passive in the past.

Vincent bowed his head to her. "Arigato, oneesan." He said. He was sticking to the rules, there; the woman was middle-aged and while probably not older than him, she looked it. He had called her "older sister," which was acceptable in polite company, and he had thanked her for the information and the tea.

Her native language sounded foreign coming from his lips, but he spoke it well. He turned to her, smiling.

"Bikkurishita anata?" Was she startled?

"Hai." She smiled. "Daisuki ware. Kikukoto nipponno itsuryu kara kuchisaki."

They were interrupted by the arrival of Nomura Takeshi.

He froze at the sight of Yuffie. He knew what she looked like, unmistakably. They'd spent months searching for her after their admittedly hostile takeover of Wutai.

And he also clearly recognized Vincent Valentine. The man was famous.

The two stood and bowed politely toward him.

"What do you want?" He spoke in English, and was up front, blunt.

"Not even going to observe all of the niceties?" Yuffie said, guilelessly, her eyes wide. She gestured to the table. "At least sit and have tea with us. If you need to you can replace the tea; I haven't poisoned it, but I can see why you'd think I would."

He eyed her distrustfully. "I will not sit and have tea with a -" His sentence was cut short when Vincent withdrew Death Penalty and pointed it at him.

"You may wish to not have tea with us, Mr. Nomura." Vincent said, deliberately using the English version of his name. "But you will not speak to my companion in such a tone unless you wish to have insult claimed against you."

The man's eyes widened. He knew that if he had insult claimed against him by Vincent Valentine, the whole of Avalanche would be upon him in no time. He'd be a dead man.

He roughly bowed at Vincent. "My apologies." He said. He sat at the table, gesturing for the other two to do so. "What brings you to Wutai? More importantly, how did you get in?"

Yuffie laughed. "Do either of us look like the posters you've been circulating around? No one would have recognized me."

Vincent cleared his throat.

Yuffie nodded. "I only came here, Nomura Takeshi-sama, to see how Wutai is doing. I may not be the ruling class anymore, but she is still my homeland."

He regarded her with suspicion.

Yuffie looked down at the table. "Takeshi-sama, I have no intention of trying to reclaim Wutai. She is prospering under your leadership; I would be a fool to try and claim her from you when you have done nothing but better her. I have only come to see how she fares, and ask that you remove the restrictions on me and my friends. I'm getting married next month and I was hoping to do it here, where I grew up."

"You don't wish to reclaim the throne of Wutai?"

Yuffie let out a short chuckle. "I have been running from the throne for most of my life."

"Your father..."

"My father." Yuffie's voice became harder. "He was a good man. But he was no ruler, and it cost him his life."

Nomura Takeshi regarded her and then nodded. "If you are willing, Kisaragi Yu-Fi, to take a blood oath to ensure your word, I will lift the restrictions on yourself and your allies."

Vincent's eyes widened but Yuffie didn't even hesitate. "Done." She said. She held her hand out for a dagger, which she used to slice open her right palm.

Takeshi did the same, and they shook, blood intermingling with each other. "Your blood is your bond, Kisaragi." He said. "Should you break this oath, may Leviathan and Da Chao punish you in the depths of hell for betraying your blood."

"The same, Takeshi-san." Yuffie said, for now the Nomura family and the last living descendant of the Kisaragi line were family.

Then he smiled. "So, when is this wedding?" The change was immediate; Takeshi no longer regarded Yuffie as the enemy, but as a younger sister or cousin.

"Soon." Yuffie said. Her hand automatically went to her belly.

"Already blessed by Leviathan, then?" It was not uncommon for women of Wutai to become pregnant before marriage, but they must be married by the time they give birth – it was considered unlucky otherwise. Young pregnant women were desirable to men of all ages, even if the child wasn't theirs; It proved they could continue on with a line.

Yuffie smiled.

"The father is taking responsibility?" Takeshi asked. In Wutai, men did not have to marry women they impregnated, but it was considered a mark of honor to do so.

"I am." Vincent interrupted the conversation. He was only half Wutain, and didn't have to observe the niceties of the conversation.

Takeshi nodded at him. "Your family lives on in Wutai, Vincent Valentine. You are an acceptable mate for a family member of royal blood."

Vincent blinked. "My family?"

"Of course. On your mother's side." A smile played on his lips. "It was really quite the scandal when she ran away with that man from Corel, but you still have aunts, uncles, and cousins living even in this town. Your mother, before she left with your father, was named Takahashi Shizuko. One of our highest families. Some live within Wutai City. Others in the countryside. But they live on."

Yuffie clapped her hands to her mouth. "Oh Leviathan. I remember the stories about that. Takahashi Shizuko and the man from Corel. The scientist. His name was..." She scrunched up her face. "Grimoire? Yeah! Why didn't I realize it sooner?" She smiled at Vincent. "Grimoire Valentine. The women used to tell the stories about them. About how he came to study some of our materia caves and fell in love with Shizuko. When she realized she was pregnant with the child of an outsider, she left the town with him, and they got married. It was so romantic, all of the girls begged to be told the story, over and over. How he snuck her out of town and they got married in Cosmo Canyon."

Vincent was very quiet. These were things his mother, growing up, had never told him. When he asked, after his father left to chase Omega and Chaos, if they could ever visit Wutai, their homeland, which she so stringently insisted he learn the ways of, she'd only said that they may return...some day.

And now he discovered he had relatives. His mother had died a long time ago, and his father as well. His grandparents, on his father's side, were also long dead, and his mother never talked of her family. He thought he was alone.

"We have the records of it, if you'd like to read them some day." Takeshi said. "I say it was a scandal, but everyone knew it was going to happen. The stories say they spotted each other and fell in love instantly. Her family, because of tradition, could not approve of a marriage to an outsider, so they allowed him to kidnap her. Your oldest aunt, may she rest in peace, kept a detailed journal of the whole incident. It is in our records building."

Vincent shook his head. "The past is the past. I look to the future." He looked at Yuffie, who was sort of smirking at him, and smiled.

Takeshi knew there was some sort of byplay going on between the two, and he didn't understand it. "Well, I am going to go lift the restrictions, and tell the record keeper of our blood oath and your impending marriage. You'll let us know which day you plan for?" He asked, eyebrow raised.

"Hai." Yuffie said. She and Vincent both stood and the customary bows were exchanged before the two of them were left in the room alone.

"That went well." Vincent said.

"Better than well. Are you okay with getting married in Wutai?" She asked, as his arms enclosed her.

"I do not care where we get married." Vincent said, savoring the words. "So long as it happens."

She lay her head against his chest and smiled. "Wutai it is, then. Next month is February. Spring starts here around then. That'd make a good backdrop; blooming cherry trees and the pagoda."

"We may not set the date for February 14." Vincent said, sternly. Yuffie frowned and glanced up at him.

"I wasn't planning on it, but why the vehemence?"

"I will not endure Cid's jokes about a Valentine getting married on Valentine's Day." Vincent said, narrowing his eyes. Yuffie pushed away from him and let out a peal of laughter.

"It'd be hilarious, but no. How about...February 21?" She asked, hopefully.

"Fine by me." Vincent said, shrugging.

"It was my mother's birthday." Yuffie said. "I think she'd love for our anniversary to be her birthday, if she were still alive to tell me."

Vincent nodded as they left the room. For the first time in three years, Yuffie Kisaragi was free to roam the streets of Wutai – which they did.

**- - - - - **

The next thing they had to do involved planning the wedding, something Vincent was happy to leave to Yuffie, Tifa, Shera, Tasha and Shelke. The intricacies of trying to plan a biracial wedding in tradition-bound Wutai, and the picking out of dresses and other such nonsense, thoroughly confused him. That they had slightly less than a month until they got married – that worried him quite a bit more.

It seemed like a dream. A page out of his journal. Some days he'd wake up and think that there was no way that Yuffie and him were getting married; no way that they were going to have a child together. It was impossible.

Either way, they'd both come far. Yuffie, nearly two years clean and sober. Him, over his past. Both had healed tremendously, and even he could see that.

Every few weeks Yuffie would go to the doctor. Their child was progressing healthily, and Yuffie as well.

The day before the wedding Cid picked them up in the Shera, beaming. To Vincent's surprise, there wasn't a person among Avalanche who thought the two of them shouldn't be married – in fact, Tifa had spluttered "About damn time!" into the phone when Yuffie told her, so loudly that Vincent could hear it from across the room. The age difference didn't seem to matter to anyone.

"Well, Vincent...chronologically speaking, you're in your sixties." Cloud said, on the Shera as the men had a prewedding toast. "But you didn't do anything for those thirty years. You were comatose. You didn't experience anything, didn't grow, didn't...do anything. In my mind you're thirty." He shrugged. "30 and 24 aren't so different. Everyone else pretty much feels the same."

He didn't really know what to say to that, so he just sipped the champagne Cid had handed him.

It wasn't until the Shera landed and the women and men separated that he began to get nervous. And he really wasn't sure why he was nervous, because he knew this was what he wanted to do, and he knew Yuffie wouldn't have said yes if she didn't want to. Still, that night caught him chewing on his fingertips absentmindedly, to the point of drawing blood.

"Whoa, there, turbo." Cid exclaimed, pulling Vincent's fingers away from his mouth. "Can't be all bloody on your wedding day."

Vincent shrugged and stared off into the distance. He'd love to be in the mood to joke around right now; it was a mood that had escaped him ever since he'd left Tifa's bar so long ago. But right now he was inexplicably nervous and he supposed it showed, because Cid sat next to him and clapped him on the shoulder, good-naturedly.

"Hey, man, 's normal. Every man gets nervous when he gets married. 's the way of the world, you know?" Cid shrugged. "Don't worry about it." He lifted up a beer to his mouth and sipped, staring off into the distance. "Gotta say, I never really expected you and Yuffie..you know...but now that I think about it, it just makes sense. You two get along great, always have. Dunno why I never saw it comin'." He grinned sheepishly at Vincent and downed the rest of his beer. "Wedding night confessions, man – stay away from 'em if you can help it." With that, he stood and walked back to where everyone else was standing in a dorm room setup.

They were sleeping on the Shera that night, women in one dormitory, men in the other. It was cheap and easy that way. Vincent sighed and lay down on his bed, letting himself relax and drift off to sleep while listening to the conversations of the others. It was soothing and mundane...just what he needed before the big day.

_Author's Notes: I apologize for the horrible translations of Japanese. My grasp of Japanese syntax is sorely lacking._

_The woman says to Vincent "Lord Takeshi Nomura will come shortly." He then says "Thank you, big sister," which is considered, as far as I know, appropriate in Japanese culture (if not, what's with all of the "sis" translations in FF7?). Well, this is Wutai and not Japan, and I say it's okay. Then he asks Yuffie if she's startled, and she says "Yes, I like it. Hearing Japanese come from your lips." Or something to that effect._

_The song at the top is actually originally in Japanese. To the best of my knowledge, it has never been sung in English, but the song is beautiful all the same. The original lyrics read something like this:_

_Itoshii hito  
Nakanai de, waratte misete.  
Namida ga mitakute suki tte ittanjanai nda yo?_

_Itoshii hito  
Anata no tame nara shineru ja nakute anata no tame ni ikiru koto ni shita yo.  
Mochiron anata mo goissho ni, kono saki mo, sono saki mo._

_I got the translation from masakarasu dot net. I highly suggest Miyavi, incidentally – very versatile artist, even if almost everything he does is in Japanese. My beta-reader Cally suggested him. I hereby bless her for introducing me._

_I got the original Japanese characters from masa karasu as well – it's the first verse of the song. If you don't have the font set "Tahoma" for some reason, it won't show up properly. I apologize for that._

_Anyway, this chapter was short as well, but I enjoyed certain parts of it. I apologize if it comes off as cliché; I've always had problems writing happy endings. I'm trying my hardest._

_Also, a note to everyone: Updates on the story and other stuff can be found in my profile, if you haven't been reading. _

_Read? Review!_


	12. Forgetting All I'm Lacking

**Diamonds and Guns**

_**Chapter Twelve – Forgetting All I'm Lacking**_

_Forgetting all I'm lacking  
Completely and complete  
I'll take your invitation  
You take all of me, now_

_I'm falling even more in love with you  
Letting go of all I've held onto  
I'm standing here until you make me move  
I'm hanging by a moment here with you_

_I'm living for the only thing I know  
I'm running and not quite sure where to go  
And I don't know what I'm diving into  
Just hanging by a moment here with you..._

-- Lifehouse, _Hanging by a Moment_

The road ahead seemed long.

Well, longer than it should be. It was just an aisle.

Yuffie and Vincent had decided to forgo traditional Wutain traditions; it was kind of proof that while she was Wutain and would always love Wutai, she was not going to be taking over any time soon. It was a statement.

Plus, she had always hated Wutain weddings – they were almost humiliating to women, with clothing designed to indicate subservience and a lower place in the household.

She was standing with Cid to her right; seeing as her father and mother were both dead, she'd begged Cid to give her away, which he was doing with a huge grin on his face.

Actually, Vincent and her had gotten into something of a fight over that. She desperately wanted Cid, the only other father-figure she'd ever had, to give her away; Vincent, however, wanted Cid, the only person he actually considered himself close enough to be a friend with, to be his best man.

Vincent relented at her tears and asked Reeve instead, who, standing erect and proud, was to Vincent's right; her left. Seeing as how Vincent and Yuffie didn't have any _real_ relatives, the first rows on both sides held all of their friends; Tifa and Cloud with their children, Barret and Marlene with Denzel in tow, Shelke, Shera, Hannah and Nanaki (who was sitting very erect in a spot where a chair had been removed for him).

Certain chairs held small "Reserved" signs. In their seats were pictures of Aeris, Zack, Bugenhagen, Godo, Reno, and Shalua. The chairs were set off to the side, but not forgotten. Vincent had been insistent that if they were going to have a ceremony, he particularly would wish for Aeris, Bugenhagen, and Shalua to be there; Yuffie had agreed and added Reno, Godo, and Zack to the list. Too many of their friends, and too many people who sacrificed too much, had been lost. Yuffie had added Zack for Cloud's benefit; she remembered how much recalling the tortured death of his friend had bothered him. She saw his eyes mist over a bit and a nod in her direction.

Also in attendance were Rufus Shinra and the remaining Turks; Rude, tall and proud; Tseng, quiet and brooding; and Elena, eyes wide and hopeful.

After them was, it seemed, the rest of the Planet.

In actuality, it was only the few remaining, scattered family members Yuffie had (great-great uncles she had never met), and Vincent's apparently prolific family whom he'd never known existed. The amount was staggering and Yuffie found herself glad that Tasha and Shera had suggested a larger reception.

Also in attendance were various press outlets, which Tifa had said were definitely going to make an appearance – they had at her wedding. It's not every day members of AVALANCHE get married, especially one who's a Wutain princess thought to be dead. They had a section toward the back. Yuffie couldn't get rid of them, but she didn't have to cater to them.

Speaking of catering, she had to remember to tell them to get lost at the reception. She wasn't paying for the squirrelly little bastards' lunch, that was certain.

She inhaled and looked up at Cid, who beamed down at her, just as proud as if he were giving away one of his actual daughters. They stepped off with the same foot, arm in arm, exactly at the same time as the music began.

She was wearing a white dress; she'd been leery of that, considering it a bit of a lie, but Vincent pointed out that it was superstitious nonsense, as most woman who wore white were hardly virgins, and the white looked amazing on her.

It really did look pretty good; an off-the-shoulder affair with intricate beadwork along the bust line and an underskirt of wine red, which showed through a slit in the white. The skirt was full. She wasn't wearing any shoes, because she liked the feeling of the grass under her feet and had decided to not wear any. They were outdoors and being shoeless made her feel more alive, somehow.

Not that she wasn't completely alive and aware right now, of course. She was nearing the podium, where Vincent and Reeve were both standing, looking solemn. Vincent had intended on just wearing his normal getup, which Yuffie had objected to – quite strenuously – with a fire in her eyes Vincent hoped never to ignite again. He was wearing a casual suit instead, with no cummerbund and his hair loose, held back with a black hair band that blended in with the rest of his getup. Yuffie thought he looked gorgeous.

As they approached the podium, Cid made a big show about placing her hand in Vincent's, symbolically giving her away. Everyone giggled a bit; they all knew how happy Cid was that Yuffie had asked him to give her away, and how proud he was that his two friends had found each other. The night previous he'd made mention of the fact that he hoped Vincent and Yuffie could be even half as happy as Shera and he were; if so, they'd be set for life. This was, of course, all said with a very dopey grin that Yuffie had giggled at.

Vincent clasped her hand in his and gave it a little squeeze; she swallowed, hard, and looked up into his beautiful crimson eyes. Really, how could she have ever doubted this?

Tifa, her maid of honor in this odd little ceremony, stepped forward as Cid took his seat next to Shera. She stood to Yuffie's right and Reeve to Vincent's left as they faced the officiant, a woman Tasha knew who did weddings and had agreed to perform theirs for free. She started reading.

"Tifa, can you vouch for the fact that this is Kisaragi Yu-Fi?"

"I can." Tifa said, gravely.

"Reeve, can you vouch for the fact that this is Vincent Valentine?"

"I can." Reeve replied.

She then began reciting the vows, which involved them protecting each other and letting no one come between them. They broke bread and drank wine together.

"This is your first drink together." The woman said. "May you never thirst!"

There was a loud noise as Cid blew his nose. A few chuckles were raised and then there was silence as the woman tied a knot around Vincent and Yuffie's hands. Then they turned and faced the congregation.

"May I present Mrs. Yuffie Valentine and her husband Vincent." The woman said. Vincent and Yuffie held up their bound hands, and the assembled people burst into applause.

"Let no one come between you; you are one now, and cannot be separated." The woman said. She smiled and stepped back, letting Vincent and Yuffie have all of the attention.

Vincent now sort of wished they'd just eloped. They were suddenly surrounded by whooping AVALANCHE members, a jumping Cait Sith (he ground his teeth at that, remembering a conversation with Reeve about leaving the robot at home), and a large number of family members he didn't recognize.

It was going to be a long day. Glancing down at Yuffie, now radiant in her pregnancy, he decided...it was well worth it.

**- - - - - **

The reception really was exhausting. They received a pile of gifts so large it astounded them; they'd told everyone it was okay, they had enough money, gifts weren't necessary, and yet still, everyone had to bring something for them. They hadn't planned on that; however, Tasha shooed everyone away from the pile, announcing they'd be opening everything in private and would thank everyone later.

"I did a stint as a caterer." She admitted later, sipping from a glass of wine. "Unfortunately, that means I tend to take charge at events like this. I thought you'd want to wait to open everything; you looked so overwhelmed."

Yuffie grinned. "Thanks. I was. There's so much stuff."

"Do you want to open it on your honeymoon, or do you want to wait until you get home?" She asked. "I'll have them put wherever."

Yuffie frowned. "I don't know. Let me ask Vincent later on and I'll let you know. You can arrange that for us?" Her grin was positively radiant, startling Tasha until the older girl remembered that Yuffie was pregnant.

"Yeah. I mean, we've got the Shera here." She said, grinning. "The place Cid got for you guys' honeymoon is a little out of the way, but it's not like we can't get there after the reception. We ARE dropping you off, after all."

Yuffie smiled at her. "I'll go ask."

Vincent, as it turned out, was eying the pile of presents a little like a kid at Christmas, which made Yuffie laugh at him.

"I've never seen you look at something like that, Vince!" She said, poking him in the side. He smiled slightly.

"I can't really explain it myself. I just really want to open them." He chuckled and his fingers intertwined with hers.

"Well, I can tell Tasha to have them moved later." She said.

The rest of the reception was a bit of a blur; Yuffie danced with all of the guys she knew, and was always interrupted by Vincent, who wanted to dance with his new wife as much as possible, as if she'd disappear on him. Everyone thought it was ...cute, for Vincent.

Then there came the tossing of the bouquet (which Hannah caught, much to Tasha's delight – the teasing took on a whole new level after that) and garter. Vincent absolutely refused to remove the garter with his teeth and there was a bit of a confusing moment until Yuffie, exasperated, took it off herself and handed it to him to toss to the group of assembled single men.

Yuffie suspected Vincent had aimed, somehow; it landed on Reeve's wineglass in his hand. Reeve, busy chatting with Hannah (holding the bouquet), almost didn't notice until Hannah's eyes widened and focused on the garter. When he finally did notice, Reeve's face burned bright red as he shoved the thing in his pocket.

Yuffie wolf-whistled, shoving her fingers into her mouth to to so. "Whoo, go Reeve!" She said, pumping her arm. Everyone laughed as Reeve took a drink of champagne to cover his embarrassment.

Yuffie didn't notice when Tasha disappeared for an hour or so. When she reappeared it was with a key in hand.

"I finally passed my exams, and Cid's too drunk to fly, so I went and dropped off your presents at the place." She said, handing Yuffie the key. "It's a little place just south of the Gold Saucer, overlooking the ocean. Very secluded. You'll probably need to call Cid when you want to come home, unless you wanna backpack it." She smiled, knowing Yuffie and Vincent were no strangers to backpacking. "I also dropped off the stuff you packed earlier. Everything's ready to go for you when you get there, mkay?"

Yuffie felt herself getting overemotional, which was becoming more and more frequent as she progressed in her pregnancy, and hugged the woman. Tasha, unused to such public displays of affection, stiffly returned it.

"Thanks a bunch, Tasha." She said, her eyes welling up with tears. Tasha quirked her eyebrow.

"It was just a quick flight on the Shera, Yuffie. No big deal." She said. "And besides, Kenny and I used the time...to our advantage." She smirked and Yuffie laughed.

"You'll be happy to know..." Tasha said, following Yuffie to the refreshment table and picking up a glass of wine. "That as I came back I stumbled upon Hannah." Her face took on a smug look. "And Reeve."

Yuffie looked at her confused and then her eyes widened. "They were..."

"Calm down, they were just making out." Tasha snickered. "Although by now they may be...ahem. Anyway. You and your husband both look pooped. Perhaps we should talk to Cid about making our grand exit?" She pointed outward, where the Tiny bronco, adorned with streamers and the phrase "Just Married," was parked.

Cid proclaimed himself "way too drunk" to fly, as Tasha had predicted, and tossed the keys to her. "Get 'er back in one piece." He said, hiccuping. Shera rolled her eyes; of course, she could have taken them, but Cid was busy trying to make out with her and obviously wanted her around.

Yuffie giggled.

So the entire party gathered at the Tiny Bronco. Tasha made a big show of helping them into the plane before getting in herself, and as she started up the engine they were pelted with rice.

On the in-flight headsets, Tasha pointed out a disheveled-looking Reeve and Hannah, walking to the table with rice, grabbing a handful and throwing it, as if they'd been there all along. Yuffie and Vincent chuckled.

The flight to their destination was peaceful; Leviathan seemed to have blessed them with no turbulence. Either that or Tasha was just a better pilot than Cid, and no one dared suggest such a thing. Not even Tasha.

Yuffie's pregnancy seemed to be having a counter-effect against her airsickness; either that or she was way too strung out on emotions to notice a rumbling tummy. She kept glancing at their clasped hands with matching rings, and then up at Vincent's profile.

Vincent, for his part, was staring out into the inky darkness around them. What could possibly going through his mind was lost on Yuffie, who only saw his characteristic blank face.

In reality, Vincent wasn't really thinking much of anything. His thoughts were too confused and filled with the fact that he'd just gotten married to be coherent. He kept flashing to Yuffie's face, which had been beautiful and serene, her hair cascading down her back, held up with pins that had flowers in them, as she took his hand at the alter.

Tasha landed and, taking the key from Yuffie, escorted them to their little cottage. She set the key on a table inside and, nodding at them with a grin, left.

Vincent, always the romantic, swooped Yuffie up and insisted on carrying her over the threshold. She kissed him as he did so, almost making him lose his balance and tumble both of them to the floor.

As it was, they fell on the bed, pure serendipity as Yuffie had planned to have her way with Vincent anyway.

**- - - - - **

A week away from anyone else, as a couple, was amazing. Cid had stocked the little cottage ahead of time with foodstuffs, so they had little reason to stray from the building unless they wanted to.

They did. Their months of traveling seemed to come back to them, and they found themselves exploring out of boredom, occasionally taking time out for themselves while out and about.

One of Yuffie's favorite spots was a smallish waterfall in a creek, an offshoot of the main river that bisected the continent. They found it while out walking around one day. She often visited it, dipping her feet into the wide, shallow pool the waterfall created and weaving little basket-boats out of cattail leaves to float in the river.

So it was no surprise to her when Vincent and her passed by there again. What was a surprise was when Vincent stopped her and, in the most romantically cliché move she'd ever seen him make, unpacked a picnic lunch.

That was Vincent all over. Sometimes he knew exactly what to do to be romantic, and sometimes he was socially clueless. She supposed that was what she loved about him.

He settled her down on the blanket (that was one thing she did dislike – he seemed to think that she was helpless now that she was pregnant) and disappeared mysteriously after setting out sandwiches and drinks.

She blinked and started eating a sandwich – her favorite, roast beef with cheddar on white. He really did pay attention.

Suddenly, as she was taking a sip of canned lemonade, he reappeared, with a basket full of small, tart, fresh wild strawberries – which she loved, and he knew she loved. She squealed in excitement and jumped up to meet him halfway.

He smirked as they settled back down on the ground.

"What's the smile for?" Yuffie asked, popping a strawberry into her mouth and closing her eyes in ecstasy.

Vincent shrugged as he ate his portion of the meal, smile still gracing his features. Yuffie giggled.

That ruined the picnic, however, because once she was done, the wonderful meal Vincent had prepared was scattered around rather unbecomingly.

**- - - - - **

They had planned to hike back to Nibelheim but the day they were to set out, Yuffie woke up feeling nauseated and ill, so Vincent called Cid instead, who hopped-to on the Shera and flew out to pick them up.

"How are the love birds doing?" He asked, smilingly, to which Yuffie smiled back weakly and went for her usual perch in the hallway, retching.

"She doin' alright?" Cid asked, concerned. The only person out of their group of people who knew, for sure, that Yuffie was pregnant was Tasha. The woman had guessed but they hadn't told anyone, so Cid would be in the dark.

"She's fine." Vincent said, curtly. "I think she may have come down with the flu."

Cid winced. "Well, good thing you called me, eh? We'll have you home in a jiffy, and then you can take care of 'er. 'Sides, I believe you owe her one." He smirked at Vincent and headed up toward the cockpit.

Vincent paced back and forth near Yuffie, until she finally barked at him to stop it, he was making her dizzy.

"I am worried." He said.

She winced. "I know, Vincent. I'm sorry. I just don't feel good. It's probably just morning sickness. I'll be fine after a few hours rest."

Indeed, she was feeling much better 45 minutes later, as Cid dropped them off at the outskirts of Nibelheim. It was starting to rain, and they encountered nobody on their way into town, lugging personal effects and unwrapped presents behind them as they dashed to the house.

She spent the rest of the day in bed, their bed now. She wasn't tired but she felt like slouching around and reading. Vincent willingly brought her cups of hot chocolate and tea, and by the time they bedded down that night, she felt her usual self.

The next morning Vincent set himself to handyman-esque things, which greatly amused Yuffie. He disrupted the chocobos first thing in the morning with his sawing; he intended, he said, to build a crib for the new baby.

Yuffie, muchly amused by all of this, headed out to shop. A few things had gone bad in their week abroad, and she'd tossed them out that morning. She intended to remedy their lack of bread and milk now, because she was craving French toast.

The late morning air smelled fresh, due to the rain, and Yuffie inhaled, smiling. All was right in the world.

As she rounded the corner, she happened to glance into the alleyway. All of the local restaurants and shops put their garbage there; it was mostly home to dumpsters and metal garbage cans, with the occasional box and bag marring the landscape.

There, before her eyes, was a little girl. She couldn't be more than six or seven years old, and was dressed in clothes of that gray color which indicated it had been a while since they had been washed. Her sneakers were all but missing, they'd gone through so much wear and tear. Her hair was up in grimy, messy pigtails, held up with equally grimy scrunchies that looked like they'd been sitting in a gutter for a month.

Yuffie stopped and stared. Nibelheim didn't have much of an incidence of homelessness; it was a small town and everyone knew everyone else. They took care of each other.

Or so she thought. The little girl was digging around in a garbage can, obviously hoping to find something of use, be it food, clothing, or something for shelter. Yuffie felt a bit of a pang, and her hand automatically went to her growing belly. That little girl had been in someone else's belly once; why didn't that someone else help her? Was that someone else dead? Did no one care?

Yuffie was just beginning to leak tears (how she hated being pregnant sometimes – it made her overly weepy at everything around her) when she was startled from her ruminations by the door nearest the garbage can slamming open against the brick wall. "Get outta here!" The shopkeeper yelled at the little girl, who jerked back and ran in fright. She ran away from Yuffie, toward the dead end of the alley. Yuffie could see a pile of boxes and cardboard, and she surmised that this was where the little girl lived.

How long had she been there? How long had everyone been ignoring it? She felt a swell of anger at the shopkeepers; they had to know she was there. She swore she'd never buy anything from them, ever again, as she shot the shopkeeper a dirty look and headed down the alley.

She heard a scared snuffling but she couldn't see anything.

"Hello?" She whispered. The scared noises stopped, as if someone were holding their breath.

There. Yuffie could see her now – she was cowering beneath the pile of cardboard, trying hide in the shadows. She could see her face now; little cherubic cheeks and scared brown eyes that kind of reminded her of Tifa when she was appealing to Cloud for something.

"Hey, there." She said, squatting down as best as she could. She felt more blimplike every day and this probably wasn't something she should be doing in her current condition but – it was only right.

The little girl curled into a ball in the back of her box fortress, making distressed squeaking noises that reminded Yuffie of a gerbil she'd had in her childhood.

"Hey, now, come on..." Yuffie said, at a loss. She held her hand out. "My name's Yuffie. What's yours?"

The little girl peeked out from behind her dirty hands and muttered, quietly. "S-Sorka." She said. Her voice was muffled by layers of fabric and flesh, but Yuffie was charmed by her childlike voice. Yuffie held out her hand a little more, and finally, after a few moments of contemplation, the little girl took it.

"Come on out." She whispered. At Yuffie's entreaty, the little girl stood up and walked out of the boxes. She was so small.

"How old are you?" Yuffie asked her, conversationally, wincing internally at trying to remain down at the little girl's level.

"Dunno." She said, rubbing her eyes with her free hand. "Momma said I was three before they left."

Yuffie frowned. "They left?"

The girl nodded. "When the big monster came. They left. Momma and Bryan and my brother all left."

Yuffie frowned. Had the deserted this little girl, who looked like an angel?

"They went back to the Planet."

Those words chilled her. How could a little girl of...she did the math. If Sorka was talking about Omega, that was...five years ago. So she was eight.

"Eight. You're eight years old." Yuffie said. She blinked. How could a little girl have been left alone for five years to scavenge on the streets?

"Wow." Sorka smiled at her, the first smile Yuffie had seen out of her, and she was amazed at how it transformed her little face. She went from cherubic to downright beautiful when she smiled; she put her whole face into it.

Down the alleyway, she could hear the shopkeeper yelling at a stray cat and Sorka's eyes turned into panic and fear before she dove back for her pile of cardboard, taking Yuffie with her as she hadn't let go of her hand yet.

"Please." The little girl whispered, pathetically. "Don't let him come here."

Yuffie nodded. "Hey, look, why don't we go get something to eat? I'm buying."

Sorka's eyes widened hungrily, before they fell. "No. They won't let me in cuz I smell."

Yuffie laughed. "Well, we'll just have to take care of that, then, won't we?" She bit her lip as she stood up and held her hand out to the little girl. She didn't know how Vincent would take her bringing a child into their house to bathe, let alone if she suggested the girl stay with them. Maybe Tifa could take her? She loved children; the more the merrier, in her eyes.

As it turned out, she didn't have to ask Vincent right away. He was gone when she got in, a note on the kitchen counter explaining that he'd gone to Rocket Town again to get some plywood. He was going to stop in and see Cid briefly before coming back.

Yuffie nodded and set Sorka soaking in the bathroom in her old room. The girl eyed the water hungrily, as if she hadn't had a real bath in a long time. Yuffie set out shampoo, conditioner, soap, a hard-bristled comb, and a washcloth for her and closed the bathroom door behind her.

While she was at loathe to leave the little girl in the bathtub alone, she had some stuff she had to take care of. Quickly, she ran to the store to get her bread and milk, and then to the clothing shop, where she estimated Sorka's clothing size and bought her a T shirt and jeans outfit, complete with panties, socks, and shoes.

By the time she got back, Sorka was finished bathing and Yuffie helped her towel off, something that seemed completely foreign to the small girl. She had her wrap up in the towel while she trimmed her hair, then rinsed her off and dried her again before combing it out again and giving her the new clothes.

With fresh clothes and band-aids over her scrapes, and brand-new scrunchies holding her pigtails, Sorka was an entirely different girl. She even seemed to recognize this, touching her reflection in the mirror in awe.

Yuffie felt a shock of pain in her heart; how long had they been living in Nibelheim and missed this girl? How long could they have been taking care of her, making sure she had enough to eat and clothes to wear?

Her mouth set. Not on her watch.

**- - - - - **

One of the blessings of having loads of cash laying around is that you can spend it in any way you want to, without people acting like you were wasting money.

Yuffie treated herself and Sorka to a day of games and fun. They went to the arcade near the pizzeria, and then ate pizza (Sorka more than Yuffie, who was still craving that French toast). After that they went to the local store, Yuffie planning on buying Sorka a backpack of some sort.

At the sight of the male salespeople, Sorka screeched and ran out of the store, automatically running for her alleyway.

She was halfway there before Yuffie caught up to her. At the feeling of hands on her, Sorka started protesting violently, kicking and screaming.

"Sorka, Sorka!" Yuffie exclaimed over her loud protestations. "It's me! Yuffie!"

At that Sorka stilled and sat in the dirt, shoving her fists into her eye sockets. "I don't wanna." She said, brokenly.

"Sorka, honey, what's wrong?" Yuffie asked, bending over. She was winded from chasing the girl; pregnancy was beginning to have an affect on her.

"I don't wanna go in there!" Sorka exclaimed, with more vehemence than Yuffie thought she had left in her. "Those men will hurt me!"

Yuffie frowned. "How do you know that, Sorka? You haven't even met them!"

Sorka put her head into her hands and started to cry. "Men always hurt me."

As soon as the words left the girl's mouth, Yuffie felt as if someone had punched her in the chest. She was vaguely unable to breathe. This little girl...this adorable little eight-year-old girl...

As soon as Sorka heard Yuffie's alarm she started crying harder.

When Yuffie finally caught her breath, she inhaled deeply and let it out slowly. "Men...hurt you?" She asked. She didn't know how to proceed with this kind of questioning; she'd never dealt with a broken child before.

Sorka let out another wail and ground her fists deeper into her eyes. Yuffie became aware of the fact that they were standing in the town square and everyone was watching them.

Yuffie clucked her tongue softly and gathered the girl up; really, she looked to be about five rather than eight. Malnutrition had taken it's toll on her; Yuffie could carry her easily.

She took her to the back yard of the house, away from prying eyes but quiet and peaceful, and let the girl calm down, rocking her as she remembered her mom doing before she died.

"Sweetie...Sorka..." Yuffie began once she heard the mewling noises quiet down. "I need..." She didn't know how to explain this.

"They hurt me!" Sorka said. She opened her eyes and looked up at Yuffie, pleading. "I'm not lying!" She looked to be on the edge of tears again.

"I believe you, Sorka. I do." Yuffie said, cupping the little girl's face. She was nearing tears herself. "I just...need to know what kind of hurting they did."

Sorka looked away from Yuffie and shook her head. She refused to speak.

Yuffie recalled a police show she'd watched a few months ago and, with a flash of insight, drew a little stick figure into the dirt. "Where'd they hurt you?" She asked, hopefully.

Sorka shook her head, then looked at the dirt fearfully. She took a twig from the ground and pointed to the juncture of the stick figures legs, and then hurled the stick away from her like it was dirty, before standing and stamping out the drawing.

Yuffie's head reeled. Vincent was due back any moment and this little girl was terrified of men. Doubtless Vincent wouldn't deal well with this either. She'd call Tifa tonight; no doubt the older woman would excel at bringing this little girl out of her shell, and being around Cloud, who was nice to all of the kids, would help her image of men.

She picked Sorka up and took her inside, settling her into her old bedroom, on the bed, for the poor girl was exhausted. Then she went into the living room and waited.

**- - - - - **

Vincent figured something was off when, after depositing his load of plywood and 2x4's into an empty chocobo stable, Yuffie met him at the front door.

"Sit down." She said. A vague bit of worry flew through him, but her eyes were reassuring, if not too happy.

She sat down next to him and told him about everything she'd done that day. Rescuing a little girl (he'd never seen her, but doubtless he wouldn't have done anything about it; this was one of the reasons he loved Yuffie so much), bathing her, clothing her, feeding her. Discovering she'd been raped – probably repeatedly – and was terrified of men.

"I'm gonna call Tifa but...I dunno how long it's gonna take her to be able to take on another kid." Yuffie said. "At least a week, I'm sure. I can't...I can't just let her go back out there." Yuffie said, gesturing toward the front door and burying her face in her hands.

Vincent drew Yuffie close, murmuring comforting tones to her. "It's not an option, letting her go back to the streets. You did what was right, Yuffie, even when the rest of the town chose to look the other way. You did the right thing." He buried his human hand into her hair, holding her closer. "You always do the right thing in the end."

"I just don't know what to do, Vince. I mean, if she ran like that from the store clerks...what's she gonna do when she finds out there's a man in the house with her?"

"That...I do not know." Vincent said. He hugged Yuffie tighter. How would this girl react to him. More importantly, how would he react to them? He was awkward at best around children; the concept of being a father was foreign to him, and the concept of trying to deal with a broken little girl was even moreso.

He supposed it'd be good practice, at least.

**- - - - - **

"Oh dear." Yuffie could hear Tifa's voice crackle over the PHS line. It was apparently pouring in Edge and the connection was faulty.

"Oh dear?" Yuffie asked.

"Oh dear." Tifa confirmed. "I just took in another kid. I don't have room for her for...at least a month, Yuffie. I could try to bed her in with Marlene and Aerith, but there's not really a lot of room in there – Cloud and Barret are adding on a wing and it'll be done next month. That's really the soonest I could do if she's going to be comfortable." Tifa's voice softened. "The poor kid. What a horrible thing to have happen...so young..."

"Keeping her here isn't so much a problem..." Yuffie said. "I'm just not sure how she's going to react to Vincent. I can't very well ask him to bed down in the chocobo stable."

"Nuh uh." Tifa said, and Yuffie could just picture her shaking her head no. "She's going to have to get used to men some day, Yuffie. Vincent's perfect; he's a gentleman." She laughed. "Plus, imagine how adorable it'd be."

Yuffie giggled at that and glanced over at Vincent, who was preparing dinner and couldn't hear Tifa's part of the conversation. Thank God.

"Well, I'll see what we can do." Yuffie said. "I suppose we could call Tasha and Kenny and cancel. I mean, they were gonna come over to dinner but I don't think..."

"No, no." Tifa said. "That's even better. Two couples. She can see how men and women are supposed to interact. That, and I happen to know that Kenny adores kids. He has two little girls of his own. They drive Tasha up the wall."

Yuffie laughed and thanked the bartender before ending the connection.

"One less dish or one more?" Vincent asked her, looking up from his position near the stove.

"One – maybe three – more." Yuffie replied, smiling. "I'm gonna call Tasha real quick and brief her on the conversation. We'll see if Kenny'll bring his daughters. It's gonna be a full house tonight."

**- - - - - **

Tasha was not the kind of person Yuffie expected would break down easily. It wasn't so much that she was strong, as that she couldn't be bothered with tears when there was just so much shit to get taken care of.

So when she heard Tasha's voice break over the PHS line, she thought maybe the signal had been lost.

"Are you sure you want us to come up?" Tasha said, after a few moments of gathering her wits about her.

"Definitely. I actually was wondering if you'd like to bring Kenny's kids." She laughed, knowing that Tasha had no intentions on becoming an actual mother herself.

"Catherine and Adrianne? Sure. We were gonna get a sitter, but this seems like a much better option."

After that conversation finished, Yuffie checked up on Sorka (still sleeping) and then ran to the store to get toys for the girls. It was entirely too much fun and she had to curtail herself after she squealed after at least five different tea sets and three dolls.

She settled for one jumbo, and plastic, tea set and some assorted odds and ends from the cheap toy section, remembering that when she was little it wasn't quality, but quantity. She had quite the time getting back to the house, and by the time she did Vincent was just setting everything up to boil, having prepared a stew that she could smell from a block away. It made her mouth water.

When she opened the door to her old room, Sorka was awake, staring at the walls. Yuffie followed her line of vision and saw that she was looking at all of her sketches of Vincent; Vincent combing down a chocobo, Vincent smirking, Vincent...everything was Vincent.

"Who is he?" Sorka asked. She cocked her head. "He's kinda scary looking."

Yuffie giggled as she set the toys down in their bags, at the foot of the bed. Plenty of time for those later.

"That's Vincent." She said. "He's not so bad, really."

Sorka shivered and drew the blankets up around her shoulders.

Yuffie sat down at the foot of the bed. "Sorka, Vincent...he's my very best friend, on the whole Planet." She smiled at the little girl. "He's really nice and he's saved my life a lot. You know...how those men hurt you?" Sorka looked about to burst into tears again so Yuffie plowed on. "Vincent stopped a man from doing the same thing to me. He kicked the door down and made the man stop and leave. He's really nice. I love him, a lot."

Sorka bit her lip and shook her head. Yuffie continued, even though Sorka plainly didn't want her to. "I love him so much that when he asked me to, I married him. He's my husband now." She held up her hand with the pretty ring on it and smiled. "He'd never hurt you, or me. Ever. I promise."

"He...he lives here?" Sorka looked about ready to bolt.

Yuffie nodded. "He's making dinner for us right now." Sorka shrank in on herself, realizing there was no escape, and started to cry. Yuffie scooted closer and hugged the girl to her, patting her head.

"Sorka, I promise. I mean that. Vincent would never hurt you. If he did, I'd kill him myself." And Yuffie was startled to realize that she meant it. Then she realized that she could definitely keep that promise – Vincent would never hurt this little girl. Not in a million years. He'd be more inclined to ignore her than try to hurt her.

"I got some stuff for you." Yuffie said, standing up. Sorka looked up in awe.

"But you already GOT me stuff!" She exclaimed, pointing to her shirt and pants. Yuffie laughed.

"Yeah, I know, but I have lots of money and I like buying stuff and since I already have too much stuff, I figured you were a good person to buy stuff for." She picked up the bags from the end of the bed and set them on the mattress with a thump. She dug out some of the cheap stuff, which Sorka exclaimed over, and then the tea set.

"This is for lotsa people." Sorka said, suspiciously.

Yuffie nodded. "Yeah, this one you're gonna have to share." She smiled. "One of my friends and her husband are bringing their daughters over, and you all are probably gonna have to play with it together."

Sorka frowned. "I can't take any of these things home." She said. She hung her head, dejectedly. "I can't, someone'll steal it. They can have it."

"Sorka!" Yuffie exclaimed. She grabbed the little girl's chin and held it up, feeling a bit like a mother already. "Sorka, that pile of boxes isn't home anymore." She shook her head. "Never again. You're never going there again, got that?"

Sorka looked scared. "But...but..."

"You'll stay here for now." Yuffie said, dropping her hand. She didn't want to spring the idea of going a whole ocean away on the little girl, not when she'd already sprung on her that she'd have to have dinner with two guys. "But you're never, ever, ever going to sleep in a pile of cardboard again, Sorka. Ever. You'll sleep in a proper bed from now on. Okay?"

And then she did it again – her smile lit up her face, and suddenly, all of this trouble she was going to was totally worth it.

**- - - - - **

Kenny's youngest daughter, Adrianne, was about a year and a half younger than Sorka. She was outgoing; a natural leader. Yuffie could tell, because she'd been the same way at her age.

Catherine was fourteen and quiet. It was apparent that Tasha had told Catherine, at least, what had happened to Sorka, because she automatically took to her like an older sister always knows how to; protectively. Yuffie smiled at the trio, playing in the living room (the men having come into the dining room earlier) before she walked into the adult world, sighing.

"I wanna go play with them." She pouted, which turned into a laugh as she flopped down onto a chair. "Kids have so much more fun!"

"Tell me about it." Tasha said. She was busying herself in the kitchen as well, having bought some risen dough somewhere that she promised would complement the stew once it had baked. Kenny and Vincent were discussing what kind of wine should be taken out of the cellar to go with this dinner, and wondering if there was any of that bubbly apple juice for the kids.

"I think I have some in the fridge." Yuffie interjected. Vincent nodded and smiled at her, and she noticed how both his eyes and Sorka's eyes lit up when they smiled. Vincent's face mostly stayed the same when he smiled, but his eyes – they became full of joy, just like Sorka's, when he was happy enough to smile.

"Think we should give 'em wineglasses to put it in?" Tasha said, a glint of mischievousness in her eyes.

"Of course!" Yuffie said. She grinned. "We have some of those child-proof ones. Cid gave them to us for me, cuz I'm so klutzy, but I've yet to have broken a wineglass. They're glass coated in plastic, and they work wonders. We'll use those. It doesn't matter if they break, anyway."

"The girls'll love that." Kenny said. His face sobered up when he remembered what had happened to one of those girls.

"Anyway." Yuffie said, drawing conversation back to the present. "I think a beer would probably go better with this stew." She coughed. "And I'm not going to be drinking, anyway."

Tasha smiled knowingly as Kenny caught up. His jaw dropped.

"Already?" He said, looking at her. Vincent was smirking.

"Uh, before, actually." Yuffie was blushing. "But anyway, I'll just drink what the girls are having. It'll make them feel more grown up anyway."

Tasha snuck around her agape husband and, using a spoon, sampled the now-bubbling stew. She smacked her lips. "Mmm. I think Yuffie's right. Beer for this one. I'll buy!" She set down the towel she'd been using to clean up her mess. "Anyone got a preference?"

Once that was settled and Tasha left to go buy the beer, Yuffie went into the living room to sit with the girls for a while. They were playing with the tea set, and Adrianne was directing everyone as to how they were supposed to properly hold a tea party.

Catherine amusedly went along with her little sister's directions, smiling up at Yuffie as she soberly took a cup of "tea" and "drank" it with her "cookie."

Sorka, who had never had a chance to interact with girls her age before, was taking it in great. While Yuffie thought that Sorka would probably always be sidekick to Adrianne's super hero, they'd still make good friends. She took in all of Adrianne's instructions and even hesitantly suggested something of her own, such a great idea that Adrianne enthusiastically picked it up (Catherine too, although less enthusiastically – she was the quiet type), giving Sorka the confidence to suggest more ideas when they came to her.

Tasha came back in with the beer and when she set it in the kitchen, was apparently informed by Vincent that dinner would be ready within the next thirty minutes. Then she came out to inform everyone of that and suddenly the two women found themselves sucked into an imaginary tea party as well.

"Don't tell Kenny." Tasha whispered to Yuffie as she clasped the plastic tea cup between thumb and forefinger, pinkie out. "But I'm having a ton of fun."

Yuffie giggled. "Me too." She whispered.

Just then they heard a cough behind them. Sorka's eyes widened and she dropped her teacup, and Yuffie turned and saw Vincent, standing at the edge of the dining room wall.

"Dinner is ready." He said, softly. He turned around and went back into the kitchen.

"Yesss, food!" Adrianne said, jumping up.

"Adrianne..." Tasha began.

"Oh yeah." Adrianne began packing up the tea set, cleaning up after herself as her stepmother had obliquely asked her to.

All of the girls, including Tasha and Yuffie, and a very alarmed Sorka, pitched in, and the mess was quickly cleaned up.

They all washed their hands in one of the guest bathrooms, giving Sorka a little more time to deal with what she'd seen.

Catherine was bright red as she washed her hands, however, leading Tasha to question her. "Are you getting sick?" She asked, laying her hands on Catherine's forehead.

"No, she's not sick." Adrianne said, giggling. "She thinks Vincent's cute!"

Catherine's face burned brighter and Yuffie giggled. She elbowed Catherine in the side.

"It's all good. I think he's cute too." She said. Catherine laughed nervously. Tasha was obviously trying to contain her laughter.

Sorka watched this all, not knowing exactly what was being said.

Her confusion must have shown on her face because Adrianne leaned over and said "My sister has a crush on Vin-cent!"

"No I don't!" Catherine said, flicking water on her younger sister in disgust before drying her hands and storming out of the room.

Tasha sighed. "Come on, Adrianne. Finish your hands and let's go. You're lucky we're in a tolerant mood today." They left as well, leaving Yuffie and Sorka alone in the bathroom.

Sorka went to wash her hands, marveling at the concept, before she asked, confused "What's a crush?"

Yuffie smiled sadly. "It's when you like someone a lot, Sorka. You like them a lot and you think about them all the time and you want to be around them. They're usually boys if you're a girl, and girls if you're a boy...although not always..." She shrugged and dried her hands off. "It's complicated."

Sorka was so confused, thinking about the concept, that she didn't have time to panic as she sat at the table. Suddenly there were two guys near her and she couldn't do anything. She froze.

"Apple juice?" Vincent asked her, politely. Her eye were wide and, very scared, she nodded slowly. Vincent poured her a glass of the sparkling apple cider, which he'd found in the fridge as Yuffie had predicted, before moving on to the next little girl and making the same request of them. Catherine's response was much the same as Sorka's, only for a very different reason.

Dinner was nice; the bread was, as Tasha had promised, amazing, and everyone agreed that Vincent had done well with the stew. Yuffie even managed to produce strawberry pie for dessert; store-bought, but good all the same, especially with the whipping cream sauce she'd gotten.

Yuffie was internally smiling. Vincent was being social, much, much moreso than usual, and she knew it was because he was trying so hard to set a good example for his gender to this one little girl. His worries were baseless; she knew then he'd make a great father.

Once dinner was finished, Yuffie went to go clear the plates and Vincent stopped her, shaking his head. She sighed, exasperated.

"I'm pregnant, Vincent, not an invalid!"

"Ooooh, trouble in paradise." Tasha said, pretending to be scandalized. She laughed and stood, leaning over to gather her own implements. "Come on, Kenny, let's get it taken care of while these two argue it out."

Talking quietly, for all three of the girls were watching them, Vincent said "I understand that you are not weak, Yuffie, but it is my job to take care of you and..." He glanced down at her abdomen. "I simply want to make sure you don't have to do anything that could overstress you."

"Doing the dishes isn't going to overstress me, you idiot." She said, smiling at him. She kissed him quickly before grabbing her place setting and heading into the kitchen.

She heard Vincent sigh as he gathered his dirty dishes, as well as the girls' dishes, before coming into the kitchen.

Yuffie heard Sorka ask a question of Vincent, very timidly, very scaredly.

"Y-Yuffie's going to have a baby?"

"She is." Vincent replied, polite.

Tasha smiled at her. "Annnd Vincent scores a point."

Yuffie giggled. "I think he's scored way more than one if she's talking to him."

**- - - - - **

By the end of the night, Sorka had not only asked Vincent two more questions, she'd asked Kenny some as well. She seemed to have decided that while she didn't quite trust them, these men were not an immediate danger.

She bade the girls goodbye tearfully at the end of the night. "Can I see them again, Yuffie?" She begged, her eyes full of tears.

"I'm sure you will at some point." Yuffie reassured her, smiling. They wished the other family a good night before closing the door.

"Wanna watch a movie, Vincent?" Yuffie asked. He shook his head.

"It's late; time for bed, I think." He glanced at the clock, which read "10:00." Then he eyed Sorka, as suspiciously as she often regarded him, and then glanced back at Yuffie, questioningly.

"Sorka, we're gonna put you into one of my big long T-shirts for the night, okay?" Yuffie said, leading the child to Vincent and Yuffie's room. "And then tomorrow we'll go get some more clothes, okay?"

"But I've already got brand new clothes!" Sorka said, once again pointing to the outfit Yuffie had gotten her. Yuffie nodded seriously.

"Yes, but you'll probably want more than that. Tomorrow I'll wear something different. Vincent won't, but that's because he's Vincent." Vincent, following behind them, snorted, and she turned to find that he was rolling his eyes heavenward. "But yeah, anyway, NORMAL people, not Vincent, usually wear different, clean clothes every day." She gestured for Vincent to wait outside the room and shut the door firmly.

"Now, let's see...Hard Rock Cafe...Turtle's Paradise...Ah. Here we go. Final Heaven." Yuffie smiled. "It's huge, change into it."

She obligingly turned around while Sorka changed into the oversized, promotional T-shirt Tifa had given her ages ago. She clapped her hands when she turned back around – the shirt was absolutely perfect as a nightgown for the undersized girl.

"Give me your dirty things." Yuffie said, holding her hands out. Sorka was clutching them to her. "I won't steal them, I promise. I'm just going to show you how to use the washer dryer."

After instructing Sorka on how to clean her clothes using the combination washer/dryer unit in the hallway, she took her back to Yuffie's old room and tucked her in.

"Sleep yourself out." Yuffie advised her. "Get up whenever you want to. If I'm asleep when you wake up, come wake me up. Vincent will probably already be awake, but he won't bug you." She smiled kindly. "You'll need the rest, trust me."

"Okay." Sorka said, sleepily. Her eyes began to close. Vincent came in behind Yuffie and looked at her questioningly, without making a sound.

And it just so happened that as Sorka fell asleep, a smile graced her features. Yuffie and Vincent were the only ones to witness it.

_Author's Notes: I had such a hard time writing this. Seriously. How do you write an orphan in without making them cliché? But I think I did a fairly good job; Yuffie always seemed to me to be the compassionate one. Her and Tifa would save all of the kids in the world if they could, I think._

_Read? Review!_


	13. Believe This Is Real

**Diamonds and Guns**

_**Chapter Thirteen – Believe This is Real**_

_I am  
A little bit of loneliness  
A little bit of disregard  
A handful of complaints  
But I can't help the fact that everyone can see these scars_

_I am  
What I want you to want  
What I want you to feel  
But it's like no matter what I do, I can't convince you  
To just believe this is real_

_So  
I let go  
Watching you  
Turn your back like you always do  
Face away and pretend that I'm not  
But I'll be here, cuz you're all that I've got..._

-- Linkin Park, _Faint_

Sorka practically blossomed under Yuffie's care. It was hard for Yuffie to refuse the girl things, but knowing that becoming spoiled would be no better than being a street rat, Yuffie did desist from spoiling her.

Too much.

But sometimes it was really hard. Especially now, with the girl staring at the bicycle like that.

"I don't even know how to ride a bike, Sorka." Yuffie said. "I wouldn't know how to begin teaching you..."

"I can teach her." Vincent said. He'd walked up behind them at the store, after having gone to look at something.

Yuffie turned on him. "You know how to ride a bike?" She said, astounded.

He blinked. "Of course. It's how everyone in Corel got around." Another blink. "Why so surprised?"

Yuffie shrugged. Foster motherhood was exhausting her, but at the same time, bringing Sorka out of her shell was an amazing process, one that strengthened her self-confidence that she'd be an alright mother when it came down to it.

Sorka was aware that the situation with Yuffie and Vincent was temporary; that she was to go to another place, with people just as nice and only one man, who was just as nice as Kenny and Vincent. She feared that day, but Yuffie promised her she'd come see her often. It was times like these that it was hardest to deny the girl what she wanted; times when she knew that she'd be leaving for Tifa's soon, times when Vincent took an interest in her, which could only strengthen her trust in the male half of the species.

So Yuffie gave in and bought her the bike, complete with flowered basket. And she sat down and sketched the scene when Vincent taught the little girl how to ride it, without training wheels.

Really, it was adorable. Vincent was so dour but his face became so concentrated while he was trying to explain how to make the bike stay up, and Sorka, despite her residual mistrust of him, soaked up every word. Her face was rapt as Vincent led her down the street, holding onto the handlebars while she pedaled.

And it was so cute when Vincent ran after her after her first solo flight, to catch her in case she fell over, that she refrained from mentioning it to him, lest he retreat back into his shell.

Really, it was going to be too bad when Sorka left. She was good for both of them.

**- - - - - **

Sorka's initial mistrust of Vincent had faded so much that when she found Yuffie passed out on the bathroom floor, she ran to him first, despite the fact that she knew Tasha was in town.

She even grabbed him by the hand and rushed him to the room; she'd never sought contact with him, in fact normally jumped a mile out of her skin if he accidentally bumped her in the hallway. But right now that didn't matter to her; Yuffie was in trouble and Vincent could help.

Vincent's eyes flew open when he saw the scene in front of him. Yuffie was passed out on the tiled floor, moaning in pain through her unconsciousness. A growing stain on her maternity pants' crotch indicated that she was hemorrhaging. He rushed to her side but the sensible part of him whispered not to move her, just in case she'd broken her neck in the fall.

He called Tasha, because he, like Sorka, knew she was in town. She dropped everything and ran to the house.

"Oh lord." She said. By this time the blood from Yuffie had pooled and the scene looked a lot more gruesome. She checked Yuffie's pulse and a few other things before turning back to Vincent.

"Call Cid. We have to get her to a hospital. She's miscarrying."

**- - - - - **

When Yuffie was finally conscious, after the doctors had performed an emergency D&C and scraped her uterus, she admitted that she'd been having abdominal pains for upward of a month, but thought they were normal.

There she sat, on the bed, looking so frail and helpless. Vincent wanted to comfort her but he had no idea how to begin. How do you comfort someone who has just lost their child?

Their only chance at a child?

"Mrs. Valentine." The doctor said, quietly. "What your doctor meant when he said you can't have kids is not that you cannot become pregnant, but that you cannot be allowed to conceive." He sighed. "Your uterus is malformed. There's a slight chance that surgery can correct the dysfunction, but frankly, it's a risky procedure and not very well understood, even in today's day and age. I don't think you will ever be able to have a child without a surrogate mother. And frankly, I don't think much of the gynecologist you went to a few months ago if he couldn't tell this wouldn't be a successful pregnancy. The embryo was viable, but your womb...was not." He sighed. "I'm really very sorry, Mrs. Valentine."

Yuffie nodded at him and smiled. Everyone in the room – Tasha, Vincent, and Sorka – knew the smile for the fake that it was, but the doctor accepted it at face value and left to tend to his other patients.

Sorka climbed into the bed with Yuffie, who, thankful for the comfort, hugged the girl. Vincent swallowed, hard, and asked Yuffie if she wanted something to drink or eat.

"Green tea would be nice." She said. Both Tasha and Vincent could tell she was trying very hard not to cry.

Both of them left the room to seek out the tea she'd requested. Halfway to the nurses station, Vincent finally felt the rage peak and he turned and punched the wall with his human hand, denting the plaster and steel with the force of it.

He closed his eyes in pain and slid to the floor, still facing the wall, his forehead leaning against it. "Fuck." He muttered. Tasha didn't know Vincent very well, but she knew that he had never once used that word in her presence, and that it was a big deal.

She squatted near him but didn't say or do anything. Just watched. He peered out at her and could see a look of concern on her face, but that she was in much too unfamiliar territory with him to attempt to comfort him.

Wise woman.

"...You cool?" She asked, biting her lip. He gritted his teeth.

"...When I married Yuffie it was a matter of honor." He said, forcefully. "To ensure that her child would grow up with a father, knowing that it's parents loved each other. I have...sullied her by marrying her, and now there is no purpose to it."

Tasha's eyes widened and she blurted out her first thought before she thought to censor herself. "But you _love_ her, Vincent!" She exclaimed, before slapping her hands over her mouth. She looked alarmed.

He closed his eyes.

"Vincent, you can't think about that like this, not right now." Tasha sounded frantic. "I don't care what you do in a few months, that's between you and Yuffie...but right now, she _needs_ you, Vincent. She _needs_ you and Sorka. She's got to recover, physically and mentally, and you have a responsibility to her to help her."

Vincent clenched his eyelids, and it was only because Tasha was paying very close attention to him that she noticed the single tear leak down his face.

**- - - - - **

Their homecoming was anything but bright. The day was gloomy and drizzly, with more promises for rain later on thundering ominously through the Nibel mountains. Cid helped Vincent lead Yuffie to the door, as she was still too weak to walk. Sorka danced on tiptoe, nervously, behind them, edging away from Cid but not willing to freak out in her concern over her foster mother.

Once they had her settled in bed she fell asleep, but it wasn't a healthy sleep. She lay pallid in bed and thrashed often, tormented by dreams and fever. Cid bid Vincent goodbye with a sad look on his face; he knew, now, that Vincent and Yuffie had been looking forward to a child and that that chance was taken away from them. Only Tasha knew that Vincent thought he'd fucked up by marrying her, and she wasn't about to tell a soul.

Vincent dutifully, through his depression and anger, took care of Yuffie, along with Sorka, who would often climb into bed with Yuffie and awkwardly pet her hair, crooning to her in some strange language.

However, Vincent did not sleep with Yuffie. He was too angry and conflicted, and so he took up residence in one of the spare guest bedrooms, leaving her their bedroom. When she was conscious she asked about it and he said he'd left the bed for her because she thrashed so much, and because Sorka desired to stay with her.

Yuffie smiled sadly up at him and looked down at her miso soup. She had no appetite, but she forced herself to eat it.

It came as no surprise to her that one day, Vincent simply vanished without a trace. By this time she'd healed enough to do things around the house and make sure Sorka was taken care of, so she just let him go and continued on with life for now.

However, once the day came for Sorka to go live with Tifa, she arrived back at home to an empty house. She didn't know what to do with herself, and found herself cleaning the entire place from top to bottom. When that was done, with a finality she didn't realize until much later, she threw her things into a bag and left, leaving only her sketch collage on the wall as proof that she'd once lived there.

It didn't even occur to her, as she guided the golden chocobo out of Nibelheim, that the last thing on her mind was drugs. She'd come a long way, even if it didn't seem like it.

**- - - - - **

The golden chocobo could take her anywhere on the planet. Anywhere. So why had she come here?

Well, it was shelter, for one. It was pouring outside and she'd neglected to bring a rain coat. At least here she could stay reasonably warm.

The cave was cool but not uncomfortably so, even with her drenched clothing. She built a small fire, away from the entryway with the waterfall blowing through it, and it warmed her considerably.

Finally, she took in the statue she'd been avoiding. Lucrecia.

She walked close, examining the woman's facial features. This is the woman that Vincent had fallen in love with, all those years ago. Except she'd had an unsullied Vincent, a Vincent who thought he was worthy of her. What was it? What was it that Lucrecia had that she didn't have?

"Why?" She whispered. "Why did you have to go and screw him up like that?" She sank to her butt, dragging her knees up to her face. "Vincent...heh. He's such a great guy, you know? And he doesn't see it, and...well...I dunno. Maybe you're just better than me. Maybe I should file for divorce. What do you think, ghosty?" She laughed humorlessly. Then she was filled with anger and she stood up again and shouted.

"It's all YOUR fault!" She screamed, throwing a dirt clod at the statue. "Your fault! It's your fault my husband left me, and it's your fault he's so screwed up. If it weren't for you I'd never have met him and I wouldn't be dealing with this bullshit! I hate you!" She threw a mako shard at her before turning back to her fire (stalking was more like it) and resolutely turning away from the mako-encrusted body, surely long dead by now.

And hell, even if Lucrecia could hear her – fuck her. Everything she'd said was true. Vincent was fucked up because of her stupid mind games. She'd read the Omega and Chaos files. She knew what kind of bullshit Lucrecia had pulled. She'd even had a glimpse at Lucrecia's personal diaries before they were destroyed. She knew what was going through the woman's mind. She was nuts and she infected Vincent with her disease.

She sobbed into her hands. More than anything, she missed Vincent. She missed the fact that he'd started joking and laughing. She missed his strong arms. She missed everything about him.

"Fuck." She said, wiping her eyes dry. "Fuck them all."

**- - - - - **

Vincent's greatest regret in life is that he didn't leave Yuffie a goodbye note.

Every single minute of every single day he reflected on that. He should have left her something, anything. He should have said goodbye. He should have...

Should have, would have, could have. All in the past.

Resolutely, he shrugged his cloak closer to his face and turned deeper into the forest. He had yet to have entered civilization since he'd left, having been "roughing it" and basically looking like shit the entire time. It was his penance.

Back to penance. He so wished he could be like Yuffie. Yuffie just got over everything. She didn't dwell on the past; she looked forward to the future. What was it about him that made him feel like he had to carry the world's burdens on his shoulders?

He snorted. He was half tempted to go tell Cid what he'd done; the man would surely kill him and that would solve the problem quite nicely. But knowing Cid he'd feel bad about it later and he really couldn't saddle the man with that.

Hell, for all he knew, AVALANCHE was out looking for his blood. If Yuffie had told them what had happened, they'd be out for him. Tifa would try to coerce him to come back. Barret and Cid would simply kill him and get it over with.

He stood at the mountaintop he'd just climbed and looked around. If only it would just stop raining, he could see where he was going. Everything around him was a big great haze.

He stumbled downward, wishing for moments at a time that the rain would get out of his eyes so he could see, when suddenly he was at a pool that he knew was deeper than certain parts of the ocean. He was lucky he'd stopped in time...

He glanced over, knowing, even though he couldn't see it, that there was a waterfall, and that behind the waterfall was a cave, containing the dead body of his first true love. Lucrecia paled in comparison to Yuffie, of course...But a cave was shelter, and he headed toward it, careful to not let his feet come too close to the steep drop.

Suicide didn't even occur to him. It wasn't Vincent's way. Suicide was way too easy a loophole to be taken seriously, and Vincent didn't condone it.

He stood in the entrance of the cave. His eyes cleared and he could see a figure standing in front of Lucrecia.

Yuffie.

"Why? Why did you have to go and screw him up like that?" She said it quietly, as if she were asking a living being a question. Vincent stared at the scene; his latest love confronting his, very much dead, first love.

"...Maybe you're just better than me. Maybe I ought to file for divorce. What do you think, ghosty?" She asked, humorlessly. Then he saw her get angry and throw a dirt clod, blaming Lucrecia for his shortcomings, wishing she'd never met him.

He'd screwed up her life, so badly. It was a mistake. A mistake to help her those years ago when she needed to get clean. He could see that now. She was miserable, all because of him. Her long hair was flying around her, sopping wet, as she threw everything she could at someone who couldn't possibly hear her; It was all his fault.

He watched, hidden, as she stormed away from Lucrecia, and just barely caught her "Fuck 'em all." before she fell asleep, exhausted from the sudden bout of inexplicable anger.

How could she ever think Lucrecia compared to her, in any way? He shook his head, disturbed by the scene, upset that he'd caused it. Yuffie was ten times the woman Lucrecia was.

He'd never told her. He closed his eyes in pain, realizing that she thought he was still stuck in the past. Of course, that was just the kind of person Vincent was, but Yuffie thought he was still hung up over Lucrecia, when really – he just didn't think he deserved her.

She'd get over him in time, annul the marriage, and perhaps learn to love someone who deserved her. He, on the other hand, would fade away, out of memory. And perhaps some day, he could die.

He carefully crept toward Yuffie, sprawled out on the hard rock with no regard to her comfort. His face softened as he carefully unrolled the bedroll and spread her out on it, covering her damp clothes with a dry blanket from his pack and banking the fire so she could use it tomorrow.

He tore the glove off his human and hand caressed her cheek for one last time.

She stirred in her sleep. "Vincent..." She murmured. In her dream she seemed happy. It tore at his heart to do what he was going to do.

But he did it. He stood and resolutely walked back out of the waterfall, heading toward the Gold Saucer, where it'd surely be dry.

**- - - - - **

Sorka liked her new foster family, but she missed Yuffie greatly.

"Is Yuffie going to come visit me?" She asked Tifa at breakfast one morning.

"I don't know, honey." Tifa said. "I'm sure she will eventually, but she's going through a lot. Her and Vincent are probably besides themselves after losing the baby."

"Vincent doesn't live there anymore." Sorka said, frowning. "He left."

Tifa froze. "What?" She asked, her voice quivering.

"Vincent left." Sorka's frown deepened. "I think it hurt Yuffie's feelings. He left one night and never came back. She didn't even cry, but I think she was upset."

Cloud, who had been listening to the entire conversation, looked up into Tifa's eyes and nodded.

"I'll call Cid, we'll check Nibelheim." He said, softly. He stood.

"Is Yuffie okay?" Sorka asked, worried.

"I hope so, honey. I hope so." Tifa said, fervently.

**- - - - - **

The house looked as if it had been abandoned since Sorka had been taken to Tifa's place, about two weeks prior. They searched the entire place and found the same thing: dust and cobwebs. No sign of either of it's two previous occupants.

"Shit." Cid swore, spitting into the mud surrounding the house. "What the fuck was the guy thinking? What if Yuffie...goes back, you know...?"

Cloud nodded. "I know. We've just got to find them, is all."

Cid's face became thoughtful before it cleared suddenly as an idea struck him. "I bet I know where we can find Vampy. Come on, let's get back to the Shera."

The Shera was able to land on the mountains where the Highwind had not been able to; therefore, they didn't have to rely on Cloud's stolen chocobo (Yuffie or Vincent had taken it) to reach Lucrecia's cave.

To both Cid and Cloud's surprise, Vincent was not in the cave.

Even more surprisingly, Yuffie was. There were signs, mostly footprints, that Vincent had been here recently, and that he had walked near Yuffie after she was already there. Cid guessed he'd probably covered her up or something.

"He's near here, then." Cid said. He lit a cigarette, now that they were out of the torrential downpour going on outside. "We could probably find him."

Cloud shook his head. "Not in this weather. We're going to have to let him go. It's a mess right up until the edge of the desert, is what I heard on the SATSCAN."

"What about her?" Cid said, jerking his thumb at Yuffie, who stirred in her sleep.

Cloud thought about it for a long while before he shook his head as well. "Let's leave her a note." He said. "She's probably...depressed and angry. Maybe humiliated. But if she wanted to spend time with us, let us know – she'd have sought us out, told us. Let's just let her know that we're okay with her contacting us."

So the two men left her a note on her pack before taking off. As soon as the Shera lifted off, Yuffie sat up, stopping her feign of sleep and glancing at the note.

Vincent had been here, they'd said. While she was asleep.

That bastard. Did he come to see his dead girlfriend?

Fuck him! Fuck him sideways! She packed up everything and left Vincent's blanket there, at the foot of Lucrecia's statue.

"You can have him." She said, hurt in her voice.

**- - - - - **

Vincent heard the Shera go by overhead; how could he not? The ship had very distinctive engines. He should know; he'd flown it her enough times.

But he had a feeling they were aware of his departure by now and he felt the urge to hide until it had passed overhead. Feeling foolish, for they may not have been looking for him at all, he crept out from the small cave he'd hidden in and continued on. Maybe he'd go to the northern continent.

The wanderlust had returned. Vincent was a traveler, once again.

**- - - - - **

A lot of things could be said of Cid Highwind. That he was insensitive, that he was a jerk, that he smelled like cigarette smoke. That he'd spurned love out of pride for a good chunk of his life.

But the one thing that could not be said of him was that he just let his friends throw their lives away. He knew Yuffie could take care of herself; she was strong. He doubted that she'd return to drugs, simply because she'd fought so hard to get off of them.

No, he was worried about Vincent. The guy had the emotional range of a teaspoon and the tact of a photon torpedo. No, Cid was very much worried about Vincent.

He'd never promised Cloud he wouldn't look for Vincent.

That night, aboard the Shera, parked outside of Edge, he sat at his desk in his office, making a list of likely places for Vincent to go. First order of business, of course, would be to get out of the rain, so he'd probably headed toward the Gold Saucer.

But from there, where? Vincent wouldn't hang out at the Gold Saucer; wasn't his style. Besides, Yuffie was happy-go-lucky enough that eventually she'd go there, and Vincent wouldn't want to see her, knowing him.

He could see him in Costa Del Sol for only days, because of Cloud's little villa there. Cloud and Tifa were always taking the kids there and Vincent knew it. He counted on Vincent to depart from Costa Del Sol, however, because they had one of the best ports in the area.

So he'd check Costa Del Sol first, but Vincent probably would have left already. Where would he go?

Cid made a list of all of the little towns and burbs on the planet. It was quite extensive. Old Midgar, Edge, Healin Lodge, Kalm, the Chocobo Farm, Mideel, Fort Condor, Junon, Gongaga, the Gold Saucer, Corel, North Corel, Costa Del Sol, Cosmo Canyon, Rocket Town, Nibelheim and Wutai. As an afterthought, he added the Northern Crater, Bone Village and the City of the Ancients to the list.

Any town that an AVALANCHE member lived in or frequented was out of the question, so he scratched off Edge, Midgar, Icicle Inn the Chocobo Farm, Costa Del Sol, Cosmo Canyon, Corel and North Corel, and Rocket Town off the list. He made definitive scratches through Wutai and Nibelheim, the two places Vincent would least likely want to be at.

That left Healin, Kalm, Mideel, Fort Condor, Icicle Inn, Junon, Gongaga, the Gold Saucer, the Northern Crater, Bone Village and the City of the Ancients. He'd already ruled out the Gold Saucer, so he scratched that off. Healin and Kalm would be dangerous for him if AVALANCHE found out, so he scratched those off.

Mideel, Fort Condor. Junon, Gongaga. North Crater, Bone Village. City of the Ancients, Icicle Inn.

He sighed. At least he was narrowing the list down.

Let's see. Mideel – he's too recognizable there. Everyone knows everyone from AVALANCHE there. Everyone knows everyone from AVALANCHE everywhere, of course, but especially in Mideel, as we sorta caused the town to, you know, get blown up. So let's scratch that one. Fort Condor – possible. Junon? No way, not really a Vincent-y sorta town. Scratch. Gongaga is possible except that Cloud's always coming through there because of Zack's parents. Let's scratch that one. Icicle Inn? I doubt it. There's a lot of memories about Lucrecia and Hojo and Gast there. Let's scratch that one.

Hmmm.

"Fort Condor. North Crater. Bone Village. City of the Ancients." He murmured aloud. Three of those were in the north continent, so he'd focus on that for now.

North Crater. Vincent probably didn't want to go there. It's where he helped kill off Lucrecia's son. Scratch.

Bone Village. Hmm. Vincent had never really shown an interest in archeology, but that didn't mean it didn't exist, either. Possible.

City of the Ancients. Possible.

"Three. Three towns." He said aloud. Four if he counted Costa Del Sol, where he'd be going to check tomorrow morning.

He could do Costa Del Sol and if that didn't pan out, do some fly-overs to see if there were any boats out. If there were, he could park behind the mountains and see if Vincent got off at Bone Village.

Of course, there was always the possibility that he was hiding out in the hills for all eternity, or that he'd offed himself. Cid didn't want to think about that, so he shook his head. No, Vincent was a fairly predictable guy when it came to shit like this. He was probably at or going to one of those four places as he thought.

Setting his list aside, Cid stretched and prepared for bed. He had a long day ahead of him tomorrow.

**- - - - - **

"How is this going to help?" Shera asked Cid the next morning, as he ran through is preflight checklist. "Do you think you can convince him to go back to Yuffie?"

Cid snorted. "I can't convince the man to do anything he don't wanna do. What I can tell him is that I lost some respect for him for doing it, and I can make sure he don't do anything stupid. Thas' all I can do, but I can do it and I'm gonna."

"Stupid?" Shera queried.

Cid grunted. "Like take too many risks. Or off himself entirely. Or take up drinking or drugs. You never know how people deal with crisis, Sher', until they're in the middle of it. Just wanna make sure our friends are alright."

"I know, I know." Shera soothed him. "I'll go into town and get supplies for an extended flight if you'll hold takeoff for an hour." She said, smiling at her husband. Cid shot her a grateful look and kissed her on the cheek.

"Knew you'd understand." He said, smiling at her.

An hour and a half later they were in the air and heading toward Costa Del Sol. He searched outside the town and within the town, no sign of him, but the port master told him a boat heading north had taken off about fifteen minutes previously.

Cid nodded and turned to Shera. "I guess we get a chance to play with that new toy Rufus gave us." He said, grinning as they headed back toward the Shera.

Once aboard and airborne, Cid barked the order for the cloak to be engaged. True enough, the new toy that Rufus had given them was activated and suddenly anyone not on the Shera could no longer see it.

Cid didn't know how it worked but he mentally blessed Rufus for developing it. Eventually everyone would have one but for now, it was his baby.

He flew north east east from Costa Del Sol, following that course for a few minutes before altering course by a few degrees to north north east, scanning the ocean for signs of a liner.

When one was spotted, he hovered in the stratosphere, using the magnification telescope to zoom in on the deck.

Sure as shit, there was Vincent Valentine. He was leaning against the side of the boat, a pack next to him, looking about as dejected as Vincent ever looked.

He also looked like he needed a bath, evidence by the wild hair and the wide berth people gave him. Cid whooped and Shera ran over to confirm.

"Ready or not, Vince, here we come." Cid said, lighting a cigarette in satisfaction.

**- - - - - **

Cid landed the Shera outside of the Ancient Forest, and he and the ship's namesake hiked into Bone Village. Shera, who had always had a fascination with archeology, inspected the site, while Cid stared off into the distance, waiting for the ship.

Within the hour it appeared on the horizon, a blot in the distance that grew steadily larger as it prepared to make port. A few people and some equipment were offloaded; Vincent was one of them.

The ship had already made sail by the time Cid presented himself to Vincent by throwing him up against a wall.

"You're going to listen to me." Cid said. He was pretty pissed, truth be told; he'd wasted a fortune in fuel for the Shera on finding his vampire ass and so the man was going to at least give him the courtesy of listening.

"If you're going to kill me, I only request that you make it relatively painless." Vincent intoned. Cid rolled his eyes.

"I have no intention of killing you, but you're gonna fuckin' listen to me. No interruptions. Got it? And actually listen, no drifting off into lala Vincent land." On Vincent's nod, he relaxed his grip. "Vince, you may be older than me in years lived. I'll give you that much. You're older than dirt. But in years experienced, I got you beat tenfold. So no matter what you do, I'm warnin' you now: don't try that I'm older than you bullshit, cuz I swear to God I'll knock you upside your damn head."

Vincent sighed. He shifted and obviously wanted to leave.

"Not done yet." Cid warned him.

Vincent dragged his eyes back to the pilot.

"Now, look. You got your own reasons for what you did. I sure as shit don't approve of 'em; leavin' Yuffie there like that was bullshit, and of course you know she's taken off too. Lord only knows where the hell she is now. But whatever."

"The point I'm making, man, is that you have now ruined three perfectly good lives because of your selfish ass. Yours, Yuffie's, and Sorka's. Sorka's a nervous wreck because you're the only thing with a dick she'll get near and Yuffie's gone. Yuffie, of course, has suddenly had her husband run the fuck out on her, right after she had a fucking miscarriage and got told she can't ever have kids again." Cid rolled his eyes. "So here's the deal. I don't care what the fuck your reasoning behind it was. I want you to take a look at it from that point of view, and tell me that your cause is a good one. Cuz if it is, I'll leave you be and never bother you again."

Vincent looked incredibly guilty.

"One last thing, though." Cid said. He said it a little less harsher than he'd intended on. "Just think to yourself, man. If you're so goddamn worthless, why does that little girl trust you and no other man on the planet? Why does Yuffie love you more than anyone? Why did I just spend four hours tracking your stupid ass down to make sure you weren't gonna kill yourself? Think on that." Cid spun on his heel without waiting for Vincent's reply.

**- - - - - **

Yuffie wasn't one to give up. She figured she'd reach the place she needed to reach if she just reached a little farther...

She slipped but recovered gracefully. She was rock climbing over the pit of Lifestream that was Mideel. She'd decided to work her anger and hate out through physical labor. Since she didn't have any actual physical labor to do, she'd taken up extreme sports. Hang gliding, rock climbing, bungee jumping. She did it all.

Nothing had quite managed to make her feel any better, but for brief moments of time, she forgot. Those moments were worth it, because Vincent haunted her even in her sleep.

She clipped her carabiner off and swung outward, reaching for a rocky outcropping. She made it and unclipped her 'biner, simply surveying the view.

This would be so much more fun if Vincent were there with her.

She ground her teeth. Vincent was off being Vincent. Why couldn't she just fall for normal guys?

Normal, like Cloud. She laughed.

It was a bitter laugh, but there it was. Hey, at least she could tell when something was funny now.

She sighed and sat down, slinging her pack from her back and unpacking her lunch. It was a simple ham and processed cheese; she couldn't eat roast beef and Colby jack on white anymore, not without remembering that picnic they'd gone on on the honeymoon.

Honeymoon. Why was she acting like Vincent was dead, anyway? Did it somehow hurt less? And why hadn't she taken off her ring yet?

She ruminated on these things while she ate her lunch.

It had been...a week or two since Lucrecia's cave. She'd shut off her cell phone and just went wherever she wanted. It felt nice at first, being free like that, until she realized that while she had the whole world on which to romp, it just didn't matter if Vincent wasn't there.

Maybe she'd just go home.

Where was home? Nibelheim? That house belonged to Vincent. Wutai? That wasn't her home anymore. Edge? At least there she could see Sorka, who was probably going insane.

She sighed and glared at her ring finger. No, fuck this. She was gonna do what she wanted to with her life, not pine over Vincent for the rest of her days.

She pulled the ring off and glared at it. "My Beloved."

"Oh yeah?" She said out loud, harshly. "If I'm so beloved, why the fuck am I rock climbing in Mideel, alone?" She threw the ring as hard as she could, watching as it hit the mako.

Then she realized, horrified, what she'd done. Without a second thought, she jumped into the pool to rescue the ring, not even thinking about the consequences of her actions.

She touched metal and was happy she'd gotten her ring back. Then the mako started swirling around her and she started to lose consciousness.

_"No! Yuffie!"_

Hah. Even in death she could hear Vincent. Wouldn't that just be her luck? She felt herself falling...

_Author's Notes: This was soooo the most depressing thing I have ever written. I'm sad just copy editing it. But it came out so much better than the wedding chapter, I think. I don't write "happy" well._

_And I apologize for the length of time this took to put up, as well as Chapter 12. I got distracted by a MMORPG myself and my beta-reader play. Legendary event, people! _

_Read? Review!_


	14. This Life Is More Than Just a Read Thru

**Diamonds and Guns**

_**Chapter Fourteen – This Life Is More Than Just a Read-Through**_

_Defunct, the pistol that you pay for  
This punk, the feeling that you stay for  
In time, I want to be your best friend  
East side love is living on the west end_

_Knocked out, but boy, you better come to  
Don't die, you know the truth that some do  
Go write your message on the pavement  
Burn so bright, I wonder what the wave meant_

_Your image in the dictionary  
This life is more than ordinary  
Can I get two, maybe even three of these  
Comin' from space to teach you of the Pleiads_

_Can't stop the spirits when they need you  
This life is more than just a read-through_

-- Red Hot Chili Peppers, _Can't Stop_

**Author's warning: LEMON.**

Yuffie had never been in the Lifestream before. Not counting, of course, the battle with Sephiroth or any of that.

It was noisier than she thought it would be. Everyone was talking; it reminded her of an airport or train station, with everyone holding their own conversations. Except that this was much, much louder.

After all, it was everyone on the planet who was ever going to live, and who had ever died.

She was surprised to find that she could still feel and move her body. She tried plugging up her ears but it didn't help.

"Oh, Yuffie." A voice said to her right. She turned, and there stood Aeris, smiling and laughing as always.

"Aeris?" She asked, hesitantly. This could, of course, be a dream.

"Of course it's a dream." Aeris said, serenely. "Nothing really happens in the Lifestream, it's all in your subconscious. Really, you're floating around in Mideel unconscious right now. Vincent's trying to rescue you without hurting himself. He almost jumped in after you but he thought better of it when he saw you go all limp."

"Vincent's there?" Yuffie said, automatically turning around. Aeris laughed.

"You can't see him here, silly. He's out there still. But he's there, trust me." Her face softened. "Yuffie, he loves you. It's so cute." A grin broke out across her face. "Cid cornered him in Bone Village. I was cheering the whole time; I didn't know he could be so eloquent!"

Yuffie smiled. "I wish I coulda seen it." Then she stopped. "So if Vincent was in Bone Village, what's he doing in Mideel?"

"Rescuing you, of course!" Aeris said, clapping her hands gleefully. "Actually, he came to make up with you but you went and jumped into the Lifestream, so he has to rescue you, first."

Yuffie felt a moment of panic. "Is he going to make it?"

Aeris shrugged. "Maybe. If not, you can come to the Promised Land with Zack and I. If so, you can make up with Vincent and live happily ever after. Time will tell, hm?"

Yuffie smiled, but it was a sickly smile. She didn't want to die, not yet.

"We all have to some day." Aeris said. "But really, I don't think this is how you're supposed to die. So I'm pretty sure Vincent'll work his magic like he always does." She hugged Yuffie. "Here he comes. Give my love, won't you?" The Ancient waved and Yuffie was suddenly yanked backward. She saw a rapidly disappearing Aeris and waved goodbye.

"...Bye..." She whispered.

Then it was dark.

**- - - - - **

The doctor from Mideel was astounded that Yuffie was in as good of physical condition as she was when Vincent brought her in. She was unconscious, of course, but she seemed to have suffered none of the physical problems one normally had when immersed in the Lifestream for long periods of time, nor any of the side-effects like drooling and incontinence.

No, Yuffie was perfectly healthy. She just wouldn't wake up.

To anyone looking in, she was fine. A heart monitor measured her heartbeats and an IV pumped her full of fluids, but other than that, she was attached to no machinery because she was breathing on her own. It looked like she was merely...taking a nap.

She even went through periods similar to REM, where her eyelids would jerk around unceremoniously. Vincent noted this to the doctor; after all, the doctor had to get rest sometime, and Vincent refused to do so until Yuffie awoke.

"I wonder what she's experiencing in there?" The doctor asked, after he'd come in for a check-up with her. He glanced down at Yuffie's countenance. "Is she all alone, or does she have friends with her?"

Vincent fervently hoped that she wasn't alone. That would be more of a curse than anyone deserved, especially Yuffie.

**- - - - - **

Yuffie woke up in a hallway. It was dim, just light enough to see.

"You're late." A voice said. Yuffie spun around and was face-to-face with Reno.

"Reno!" She said, excited to see someone familiar.

"Calm down there, kiddo." He grinned, a haunted little grin. "I'm almost, but not quite, a figment of your imagination. But you're late. Really late. We have to get going."

He started off toward the end of the hall, where a light was starting to shine.

Yuffie jogged up to him. "Late? For what?"

Reno shook his head. "We've gotta get going. No time for talk."

Yuffie frowned and Reno continued on. "You almost died. Because Vincent took so long getting you out of the Lifestream – congratulations, by the way – they have to decide if you're going to die or live. You've kinda got one foot out, one foot in right now. You have to go plead your case."

"Plead my case? To who? Who decides if I live or die?"

"The Ancients, of course." Reno said, smiling down at her, a little condescendingly. "You're lucky, though, you've got Aeris on your side. They may go easy on you."

The end of the hallway was near now. A white door was glowing faintly, and it swung open to admit them.

"Here you go, kiddo." Reno said, smiling at her. It was a fake smile. Yuffie wondered if he'd lost his case.

"Nah. I never got a chance to plead. I just...haven't gone on yet." He looked past the door, in at something. "Someday...maybe I can." He gave her a thumbs up and closed the door between them.

"Kisaragi Yu-Fi?" A voice said. She frowned and turned around.

"That would be Yuffie Valentine, thank you very much!" She said, walking to the place she assumed she was to sit at. Yuffie had never liked her Wutain name and when she'd changed her surname from Kisaragi to Valentine, she'd changed her first name to Yuffie from Yu-Fi, officially. She refused to go by anything else, even in the afterlife.

"Very well." The voice said. The lights dimmed a little and she saw some people standing there, regarding her. She didn't quite recognize any of them. One did seem vaguely familiar, though...

Behind her was a whole room of people. Zack and Aeris stood in the corner, Zack with his arms crossed and a frown gracing his features, Aeris biting her lip. Her father was there also, holding a baby. Her baby, she realized. The child she'd miscarried.

They'd never even given it a name.

The shock would have left her breathless, were she in her physical body. Obviously, she was not.

Bugenhagen was there, too, floating several inches on the floor. He smiled at her. Her mother was standing next to her father, waving. She looked just as she had all those years ago.

Shalua and, oddly enough, Rosso the Crimson, were seated in chairs near that group. None of the other Tsviets were there, and Yuffie wondered if none of them had been at peace enough to go on.

Even more astounding was the presence of Sephiroth. His form was greatly different in the afterlife. His hair and face were the same, but he wore jeans and a T-shirt, odd from such a person. He seemed at peace, watching the proceedings interestedly.

The thing that shocked her the most, though, was Lucrecia. The woman sat there, next to Sephiroth. She looked peaceful, but upset at the same time, if such a thing was possible.

She turned back to the Ancients regarding her. One woman, who she took to be Aeris' mother because she looked so like her, spoke.

"Yuffie, you are here because you jumped into the Lifestream. Most people commit suicide when they do that, but you were rescued. Your soul is now part of the Lifestream and we need to know why we should relinquish it to join your body again." She smiled gently. "Explain."

"But..." Yuffie said. "What...what if I want to stay? What if I want to stay with them?" She pointed to the people behind her. Her mother...her child...

"There is something that ties you to the other world, Yuffie, and we need to know what it is. If you wish for that tie to be severed, we can do that, but you must plead your case, either way." Aeris' mom said. Ifalna. That was her name.

Yuffie pondered that. Vincent. Vincent tied her to the other world. She felt a painful shock at the idea. She didn't want to leave him.

So she explained. From start to finish. How she'd turned to drugs after Godo had been murdered, and how she'd been saved through Vincent's efforts. How they'd fallen in love and what it had taken for them to admit to that love. How she'd miscarried and how he'd left out of, she assumed, depression and confusion. How she'd thrown the ring into the Lifestream and how she'd jumped in to save it. How she knew he'd rescued her and was willing to be with her now.

"I don't want to die." She whispered. "I didn't mean to jump in. I..." She sighed and closed her eyes. "I miss everyone that has gone on. I miss my family and friends."

Ifalna nodded. "You may call witnesses, if you wish." She said. The group seemed undecided.

"I..."

"I'll speak." Aeris said, softly, from behind her. She took a seat next to Yuffie. She reached down and squeezed Yuffie's hand gently.

"More important than Vincent is a little girl Yuffie saved." Aeris said softly. "Both Vincent and the little girl will suffer unnecessarily if we keep Yuffie here. This girl was harmed and must be put right again. Yuffie and Vincent are the only people who can do it. I ask the council to take that into consideration too."

"I will speak as well." A voice said. Yuffie turned and saw Lucrecia walking from her seat near her son. She sat opposite Aeris, on Yuffie's left side.

"As you all know, I have only recently been able to pass on." Lucrecia said, with some difficulty. "This was because of the harm I had inflicted on Vincent. I could not let it go and because of that, couldn't even die properly. Once I did, I was stuck in between the worlds of the living and dead, not ready to pass on yet until I could let go of the things I had done. Unspeakable crimes, things I had done to Vincent. This girl allowed me to pass on by healing that damage. I ask that the council also take that into consideration. She saved me from an eternity of living hell. That has to count for something."

Some murmuring was heard from the council, but they still looked undecided.

"I will speak." A deep voice said. Sephiroth stood from his place, arms crossed. "This girl saved the world from me and my disciples. If she doesn't deserve a second chance, who on the Planet does? She saved all life from death – three times. She deserves to go back if that's what she wishes."

"Yeah!" A large group of the assembled said. Shalua nodded, fiercely.

"She defeated those of us who's only purpose was slaughter." Rosso's heavily accented voice said. "She did it selflessly. She has earned the right of passage!"

The door at the back of the room flew open, and Reno walked in. There was confidence in his face; had he passed on?

"Sorry to interrupt." He said, smirking. He sat next to Sephiroth. "Just saying, though...if you guys don't let her go back, there might be a bit of an uprising here. Think of it. The ethereal planes in chaos. Honestly, I think it'd be fun to see, but we know how much you guys like order around these parts..."

The room dissolved into utter chaos at that point. Everyone was talking to each other and the noise rose in waves.

"SILENCE!" The man at the center of the council shouted. Everyone quieted.

The council began whispering amongst itself. Finally Ifalna nodded and turned to Yuffie, smiling gently.

"Yuffie, as we can see, you have the support of a great many of our most powerful subjects. These are people who, in life, would not have thought twice about killing you. As you can see, you helped bring many of them to peace." Yuffie's returning smile was half-hearted. "We have also decided that as your jumping into the Lifestream was to save your wedding ring, it was accidental and not suicide. That is another mark in your favor."

The murmuring behind Yuffie grew in pitch.

"Therefore, we have decided to send you back. This is your only second chance, Yuffie. Do not waste it."

"When can I go back?" Yuffie asked, standing. She had to shout over the cheers behind her. "When?"

"When you're ready, Yuffie, just go through the door." Ifalna said. "Go through the door and down the hall. Don't spend too much time here, saying goodbye, or the hallway will be gone forever."

Yuffie gulped and turned to Aeris, hugging her. "Thanks." She whispered.

"I had really hoped it wouldn't come to this." Aeris said. She drew back from Yuffie and smiled. "But it came out alright anyway!"

Yuffie had to rush the goodbyes, of course, but she found everyone she'd lost and said goodbye; Reno, her parents (with her daughter, who they were calling Yuffie after her), Bugenhagen, Shalua – everyone. She even said goodbye to Sephiroth and Rosso, who seemed to find the whole thing kind of amusing.

Finally, she was at the door, and there was only one person left.

Lucrecia smiled at Yuffie. "Make him happy, Yuffie. Happy like I never made him." She opened the door and gestured for Yuffie to exit.

"I will." She said. Then she left the room and the murmurs died down to nothing.

"I will." She repeated. She started down the hallway, determinedly.

**- - - - - **

It was nighttime, and Vincent was keeping watch over Yuffie, just like he did at all other hours of the day. He needed a shave and a bath, but that didn't stop him.

Some day Yuffie would wake up, and then he'd concern himself with such worries as a bath, a shower, or food. The nurse had left a bottle of water for him and occasionally he sipped that. It was his only sustenance.

If she never woke up, that was one more thing on his shoulders. One more thing he'd have to live with.

However, that just wasn't meant to be. Yuffie stirred and then her beautiful gray eyes looked up to meet his crimson ones.

"Vincent!" She exclaimed, sitting up and hugging him. Then she pushed back and wrinkled her nose. "Ew, you stink!"

Vincent, still coming to terms with the fact that she wasn't in a coma anymore, was blinking and staring at her. She laughed.

"You need a bath." She sniffed. "So do I."

"Yuffie..." Vincent said. "You're awake."

"Little slow on the uptake there, Vince." She said, grinning. "I'm awake and alive and I'm never leaving again." She hugged him, smell and all.

"What...where..." Vincent was having trouble articulating his thoughts.

"I got sent back." Yuffie said. She leaned back in her bed. "I got a second chance, Vince. You should have seen it. Everyone was there. My parents...our daughter...Sephiroth...Aeris...even Lucrecia. Everyone. I got to say goodbye." She closed her eyes and smiled, completely at peace. "We made a cute kid, Vincent. You'd have loved to see her. My parents are taking care of her."

"You mean..."

"What I mean, Vincent..." And Yuffie sat back up. "Is no more sins, no more burdens, no more guilt. Our slates are clean, and we can start over." She smiled at him and kissed him, then sat back. "No more acting the martyr for either of us. We're okay."

"Okay." He repeated.

"Definitely okay." She wrinkled her nose. "Except that we both need baths. Do they have a shower here?" She looked around. "Where are we, anyway?"

"At the clinic in Mideel." Vincent said, softly. "The others are all staying at the inn."

"Others?" Yuffie asked.

"Avalanche." He said. "Cid and Tasha used the Tiny Bronco to help get you out of the stream...and once Cid and Tasha knew, everyone knew. They've been in to see you every day."

"Then they'll have a hell of a surprise tomorrow morning!" Yuffie said, dancing in her seat. "Anyway, where's the doctor?"

"At home, sleeping. I was watching you." Vincent said. He still seemed a little bemused.

Yuffie smirked and pointed to the bathroom. "Well, then, Mr. Valentine, shall we get a shower?" She winked at him and he flushed.

"I don't think that's wise." He said, drawing back.

She kissed him again. "Everything's going to be okay, Vincent. Trust me. And if your paranoid fear of knocking me up is going to keep me from having sex with my husband for the rest of my life, you are going to be dealing with one very angry Yuffie Valentine. So shut up and let's go." She stood up and guided him to the bathroom.

They got clean first; the water was warm and soothing and really, just what both of them needed after mucking about in their own filth for God knows how long. Yuffie washed herself while Vincent waited at the back of the shower, politely. When she was done she insisted on washing Vincent too, which embarrassed him until she started kissing his neck after she'd rinsed it off.

That was the way it went. She slowly cleaned off his body and kissed it, sending shivers through him. She soaped up his hair, running her fingernails across his scalp and making him almost mewl in happiness.

When she'd finished putting the conditioner in, he surprised her by kissing her fiercely. She could tell he'd missed her. She smirked.

Then he knelt, her body between him and the shower spray, and flicked his tongue lightly at the juncture of her legs. She gasped and held onto the handicapped bars on the sides of the shower, glad they were there.

She let him dwell there for a few moments, just getting her as hot as he could without orgasming, before she pushed his head down, effectively splaying him out on the floor of the tub.

"My turn." She said, smirking. "I'm in charge now." She leaned over and kissed his neck, and descended, leaving a white-hot trail down his chest and pelvis. She spent a little time pleasuring him before pulling herself up and impaling herself on his member.

Vincent gasped as Yuffie sat on top of him, getting used to the feeling again, flexing herself around him. Then she started to move and both of them were lost to words, only the occasional gasp or groan escaping their lips.

She leaned forward and grasped his shoulders as she moved, clenching so hard she left marks on his skin. Vincent watched in fascination as blood dripped from the wounds, but for some reason her sudden fierceness didn't turn him off at all. He wanted her more.

He grabbed her hair and pulled her face toward his, letting her continue her ministrations while molesting her mouth. She moaned and sped up.

Vincent shifted as much as he could, trying to help, when she shifted her hands down to his hips, effectively forcing him to stay still while she did the work. The sight was gorgeous; Yuffie, naked, dripping wet, sliding herself up and down on his organ. She was biting her lip and her head was thrown back, her waist-long hair stuck to her back. Her breasts, slightly larger than usual due to her short stint as a pregnant woman, bounced, throwing water into the air.

The sight set him off. He could feel her moving up and down on him, he could hear her gasps, and then everything went silent as his collective being burst out of him.

He reached up with his human hand and grabbed at the tiles, gasping her name futilely.

Yuffie, looking at him coming, felt her orgasm, spurred on by the way he was calling her name out. She tightened around him and threw her head up, holding on to the handicapped bars again, lest she fall over and hit her head on the faucet fixture.

Vincent, recovering, saw her go. He could almost do it all over again just seeing her come. It was a beautiful sight.

When she was done she collapsed on top of him, his spent member still inside of her, resting her head on his shoulder. The warm water pelted them from above, and the conditioner still in both of their hair made them slick.

"We should probably rinse off." Vincent said, regretfully. Yuffie nodded and sat up, wincing slightly as she pulled herself off of him.

They rinsed the conditioner out of their hair and off of their bodies, and then stood there for a few moments, holding each other as the water cleansed them.

"Don't leave me, ever again." Yuffie whispered. Vincent shook his head.

"I don't plan on it." He whispered back.

When they were done they got out, searching for the linen closet until they found it, stocked with huge, warm, fuzzy white towels. Yuffie took two, pulling her hair up into a turban before toweling herself off. Vincent did the same and she giggled at him before kissing him slightly.

Their clothes were filthy so they wrapped themselves in the towels, using the doctor's washing machine to wash their clothing. Vincent made a mental note to leave he man a huge sum of money for the use of his facilities.

Shortly, the clothes were cleaned and they donned them again. Neither was tired, and the tropical night was warm and inviting. They stepped outside, watching the night sky over the glow of the Lifestream.

"She--" Yuffie gulped. "Lucrecia told me to make you happy, Vincent. She told me to make you happy like she'd never been able to before." She closed her eyes and looked like she was going to speak again, but Vincent interrupted her.

"Yuffie, you have made me more happy than Lucrecia ever would have been able to." He drew her to his side. "I..I love you. She could never compare to you."

Yuffie's face squeezed up and she buried it into his chest, hugging him. He patted her head, face leaned toward hers, murmuring her name occasionally.

"Aeris says hello and sends her love. Reno says congratulations." Yuffie blurted out into his chest. Vincent chuckled slightly, kissing the top of her head before they both relaxed and looked back out into the sky.

"Our daughter...looked happy?" Vincent said, softly. She looked up and finally realized that he had actually been looking forward to possibly having a child.

"Very much so." Yuffie said. She laughed. "We never got to name her...so mom and dad named her Yuffie. She'll be very happy there, where there's no suffering and no homelessness and no hunger."

Vincent swallowed and nodded. The sun was starting to come up over the mountains and he smiled.

"We probably ought to warn the others that you're alive and well again. Sorka will be very happy to see you."

"She's here?" Yuffie asked, stunned.

"She was. Tifa took her back to Edge after..." Vincent frowned. "She was very distraught."

Yuffie bit her lip and nodded. "Let's get our stuff together and...get something to eat. I'm starving!" She smiled but there was a look of unease in her face.

Vincent closed his eyes. Everything was alright.

**- - - - - **

_One year later._

"Vincent, I'm home!" Yuffie said, throwing her purse onto the table near the door. She closed the door behind her and walked in, Sorka in tow.

Tifa and Yuffie had talked, after Yuffie had come back from the Lifestream, and both had agreed that while Tifa was the orphan-taker-in, Sorka would do better with Yuffie and Vincent. It was true. In the one year since they'd adopted her, she'd developed leaps and bounds – she was nine now, and actually looked it, having shot up in height over the past year. She was getting along with men easier and Vincent adored her. Every now and then she'd slip and call him "Dad" and he'd freeze, an odd look coming over his face before he continued on with whatever it was he was doing.

Yuffie thought it was adorable. Sorka so loved Vincent that she'd grown her brown hair out like his and wore it up in a hairband. Yuffie would occasionally tease Vincent by referring to Sorka as "Vincent, Jr."

Yuffie's old room was now Sorka's. It was decorated to Sorka's taste with Sorka's things. The only thing that remained was Yuffie's old sketch collage, which Sorka refused to take down.

"Sorka, go do your homework and then we'll start making dinner." Yuffie instructed her. Sorka made a face at Yuffie but headed down the hall to do as she'd been told.

Yuffie headed to her and Vincent's room, where she was sure Vincent was at. Yep. There he was, laying on the bed sleepily, despite the fact that it was three in the afternoon.

"Where'd you go for so long?" Vincent asked, sitting up.

"I had to pick Sorka up from school, and I had a doctor's appointment." Yuffie said, kissing his nose as she bade him to sit up.

"Oh?" Vincent asked, only mildly concerned.

"I'm pregnant."

Vincent sat up, so fast he cracked his head on hers. "What?"

"Calm down." Yuffie said, holding her hand up. Vincent closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"How-"

Yuffie shushed him again and he resolutely clenched his lips.

"I'm pregnant, and I'm keeping it." Yuffie said.

"Are you _insane_?" Vincent hissed.

"I told you to calm down!" Yuffie said, grinning at him. "Listen to the details, Vince, before you jump ahead of yourself!"

Vincent shut up.

"It seems as though the dip in the Lifestream fixed everything down there." Yuffie said, pursing her lips. "The embryo is healthy and viable, three months along, and a boy. I decided to keep it."

Vincent stared at her as if he'd never seen her before. "Everything's...okay?"

Yuffie grinned at him before throwing her arms around him. "Yes, Vincent. Everything's okay."

_Author's Notes: I wasn't expecting the story to end this chapter, but I'm gonna tell ya, I have very little control over the creative process. My muse decided that 14 chapters was enough, and that's that!_

_I was never really intending the story to end this way, either, but it just sorta came out like that! I hope everyone enjoyed it. I had fun writing it! We shall see where my muse takes me next. Probably not a Yuffentine, though, I've had an idea kicking around in my head for a while...  
_

_Read? Review!_


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